Effects of long-term physical exercise on age-related changes of spinal motoneurons and peripheral nerves in rats

摘要: We examined the number and size of motoneurons myelinated nerve fibers innervating medial gastrocnemius (MG) muscle in hindlimb rats that were subjected to swimming for 10 months (30 min, 3 days/week) from 17 27 age. The MG exercised aged was slightly, but not significantly, greater than sedentary rats, both groups significantly less compared middle-aged (17-month-old) rats. motoneuronal somata larger Morphological parameters (fascicular area, fiber density, axonal diameter) showed intermediate values between those although all differences means significant. Thus, overall changes seen seem suggesting long-term moderate exercise retards progressive peripheral nerves develop old