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sound mind resides in a sound body. Many individuals with an active
lifestyle show sharp mental skills at an advanced age. Regular exercise
has been shown to exert numerous beneficial effects on brawn as well
as brain. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the influence
of swimming on memory of rodents. A specially designed hexagonal water
maze was used for the swimming exposures of animals. The learning
and memory parameters were measured using exteroceptive behavioral
models such as Elevated plus-maze, Hebb-Williams maze and Passive
avoidance apparatus. The rodents (rats and mice) were divided into
twelve groups. The swimming exposure to the rodents was for 10- minute
period during each session and there were two swimming exposures on
each day. Rats and mice were subjected to swimming for -15 and -30
consecutive days. Control group animals were not subjected to swimming
during above period. The learning index and memory score of all the
animals was recorded on 1st, 2nd, 15th, 16th, 30th and 31st day employing
above exteroceptive models. It was observed that rodents that underwent
swimming regularly for 30- days showed sharp memories, when tested
on above behavioral models whereas, control group animals showed decline
in memory scores. Those animals, which underwent swimming for 15-
days only showed good memory on 16th day, which however, declined
after 30-days. These results emphasize the role of regular physical
exercise particularly swimming in the maintenance and promotion of
brain functions. The underlying physiological mechanism for improvement
of memory appears to be the result of enhanced neurogenesis.
KEY
WORDS: Dementia, swimming, exercise, neurogenesis.
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