Effects of Exercise Training during Advanced Maternal Age on the Cognitive Function of Offspring

Abstract

Advanced maternal age (AMA) denotes an age of ≥35 years during the time of delivery. Maternal metabolism affects the offspring’s physical and neurological development as well as their cognitive function. This study aimed to elucidate the effects of exercise training among old female animals on the cognitive function, hippocampal neuroplasticity, mitochondrial function, and apoptosis in the offspring. We found that the offspring of mothers with AMA without exercise training had decreased spatial learning and memory, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD-95) protein levels, neurogenesis, and mitochondrial function, as well as hippocampal cell death. Contrastingly, offspring of mothers with AMA with exercise training showed improved spatial learning, memory, hippocampal neuroplasticity, and mitochondrial function. These findings indicate that despite the AMA, increasing fitness through exercise significantly contributes to a positive prenatal environment for fetuses. The maternal exercises augmented the hippocampal levels of BDNF, which prevents decreased cognitive function in the offspring of mothers with AMA.