ArticlePloS one2016
Maternal Exercise during Pregnancy Increases BDNF Levels and Cell Numbers in the Hippocampal Formation but Not in the Cerebral Cortex of Adult Rat Offspring.
Article in PloS one, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 80 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exercise and yoga during pregnancy and their impact on depression: a systematic literature review.Archives of women's mental health · 2022Pooled it
- The Janus Face of Isoflurane: A Dose-Age-Response Model of Cognitive Impact.Biomolecules · 2026Review
- Maternal exercise enhances hippocampal plasticity and resilience against stress-induced depressive behaviors in adult offspring.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- A Longitudinal Study of Children's Hippocampal Development: Investigating Maternal Physical Activity, Depression, and Education.Developmental neurobiology · 2026Article
- Maternal physical activity during pregnancy is associated with changes of brain cortical development and executive function in 8-year-old children.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Article
- Physical activity and improvement of physiological parameters by training.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Review
- Impact of maternal exercise on neurodevelopment and gut microbiota in offspring from advanced-age mice.Journal of exercise rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Train and Reprogram Your Brain: Effects of Physical Exercise at Different Stages of Life on Brain Functions Saved in Epigenetic Modifications.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Exercise epigenetics is fueled by cell bioenergetics: Supporting role on brain plasticity and cognition.Free radical biology & medicine · 2024Review
- Article
- Maternal gastrointestinal nematode infection alters hippocampal neuroimmunity, promotes synaptic plasticity, and improves resistance to direct infection in offspring.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Maternal Exercise during Pregnancy Impacts Motor Performance in 9-Year-Old Children: A Pilot Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Maternal high-intensity interval training as a suitable approach for offspring's heart protection in rat: evidence from oxidative stress and mitochondrial genes.Frontiers in physiology · 2023Article
- Effects of Exercise Training during Advanced Maternal Age on the Cognitive Function of Offspring.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Effect of the ACTN-3 gene polymorphism on functional fitness and executive function of elderly.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2022Article
- Maternal Swimming Exercise During Pregnancy Improves Memory Through Enhancing Neurogenesis and Suppressing Apoptosis via Wnt/β-Catenin Pathway in Autistic Mice.International neurourology journal · 2021Article
- Strength training during pregnancy influences hippocampal plasticity but not body development in neonatal rats.Journal of musculoskeletal & neuronal interactions · 2021Article
- Treadmill Exercise during Pregnancy Decreased Vulnerability to Neonatal Hypoxia-Ischemia through Reducing Inflammation and Increasing Antiapoptotic Gene Expressions and Antioxidant Capacity in Rats.Stroke research and treatment · 2021Article
- Environmental regulation of the chloride transporter KCC2: switching inflammation off to switch the GABA on?Translational psychiatry · 2020Review
- The Role of Nutri(epi)genomics in Achieving the Body's Full Potential in Physical Activity.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Clinical evidence has shown that physical exercise during pregnancy may alter brain development and improve cognitive function of offspring. However, the mechanisms through which maternal exercise might promote such effects are not well understood. The present study examined levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and absolute cell numbers in the hippocampal formation and cerebral cortex of rat pups born from mothers exercised during pregnancy. Additionally, we evaluated the cognitive abilities of adult offspring in different behavioral paradigms (exploratory activity and habituation in open field tests, spatial memory in a water maze test, and aversive memory in a step-down inhibitory avoidance task). Results showed that maternal exercise during pregnancy increased BDNF levels and absolute numbers of neuronal and non-neuronal cells in the hippocampal formation of offspring. No differences in BDNF levels or cell numbers were detected in the cerebral cortex. It was also observed that offspring from exercised mothers exhibited better cognitive performance in nonassociative (habituation) and associative (spatial learning) mnemonic tasks than did offspring from sedentary mothers. Our findings indicate that maternal exercise during pregnancy enhances offspring cognitive function (habituation behavior and spatial learning) and increases BDNF levels and cell numbers in the hippocampal formation of offspring.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.