Fig. 2

Voluntary physical exercise ameliorates AD-induced reduction of synaptic proteins without affecting neurogenesis and neuronal survival. a Representative image of NeuN-positive nuclei (green) in hippocampal areas of WT-SED, WT-EXE, 5xFAD-SED, 5xFAD-EXE mouse brains. Solid and dotted lines represent the quantified hippocampus and subiculum areas, respectively. Scale bars 200 μm. b Comparison of NeuN level in hippocampi and subiculum of WT and 5xFAD mice brain quantified by measuring the percentage of positive immunoreactive area. c Representative images of DCX-positive cells (green) and DAPI (blue) in hippocampal dentate gyrus of WT-SED, WT-EXE, 5xFAD-SED, 5xFAD-EXE mice. Scale bar 100 μm. d Comparison of DCX-positive cells number in dentate gyrus of WT and 5XFAD mice. e Representative WB of synaptic proteins synaptophysin, PSD-95 and β actin in hippocampal protein samples. f Analysis of the WB bands normalized to β actin and presented as relative values to WT-SED. All data are presented as mean (± SEM). Two-way ANOVA used to measure genotype and exercise effect between WT and 5xFAD mice followed by unpaired t test comparison in case of significant interaction between two factors (genotype*exercise). a–d n = 8/group, e, f n = 5–7/group. «*» Genotype effect, «#» exercise effect: *p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001, ##p < 0.01