Physical exercise conducive to new brain cells growth

8 February 2010, 16:43

(Kazan, February 7, Tatar-inform). Physical exercise not only improves physical condition but stimulates the growth of new brain cells, thus enhancing some memory functions. Scientists made the conclusion after a series of experiments on mice. The research data has been published in the US National Academy of Sciences' official publication.

In the experiment, the researchers divided the mice into two groups. Each group was kept in a separate box. A running wheel was installed in each box, in which the animals voluntarily ran about 20 kilometres every day. No such wheel was installed in the second box. After 105 days of living separately, the scientists found that the mice in the first cage had developed twice as many new cells than did the mice in the second cage. The cells were mostly located in the hypothalamus, the department among other things responsible for memory and learning capacity. Besides, the researchers put the test animals through a series of memory tests, rewarding them extra food for correct fulfilment. As the result of the experiment, the mice regularly running in the wheel were found to substantially improve the function of memorising and storing information about the differences in two similar objects, reports Ami-Tass.

The scientists are confident the results of the study are applicable to people as well. “The capacity to store two various memories is an important component of a good memory,” noted the research author, Cambridge University staff member Timothy Boussie. “People use the memory function to remember, for instance, where a person parked his car on two different days last week,” noted the researchers. “When events are similar enough, it is not easy to distinguish the memories of them. This is the memory function that is quite possible to develop through exercise.”
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