Whole-Body Vibration Affects Hippocampal Choline Acetyltransferase and Synaptophysin Expression and Improves Spatial Memory in Young Adult Mice.

Background: Beneficial effects of whole-body vibration (WBV) on brain and musculoskeletal health in mice have been demonstrated, but underlying mechanisms remain relatively unrevealed. WBV improves attention and memory performance in mice, putatively through stimulation of the cholinergic system. Here, we investigated the effects of WBV on the septo-hippocampal cholinergic system.

Methods: Young C57BL/6 mice (8 weeks old) were subjected to 10 min WBV/day (mechanical vibration: 30 Hz; ~0.1-μm peak-to-peak displacement), 5X/week for 5 weeks. In Experiment 1, choline acetyltransferase (ChAT)-immunoreactivity in the septum and hippocampus was analyzed either 2 or 24 h after the last WBV session. Pseudo-WBV-treated mice (same handling procedure as WBV, but no vibrations) served as controls. In Experiment 2, the longitudinal profile of ChAT-immunoreactivity was analyzed in the hippocampus after 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 weeks of WBV. In addition, synaptophysin immunostaining was performed at either 2 and 5 weeks of WBV. Mice housed 1/cage during the entire experiment served as controls. The balance-beam test was used to monitor the functional impact of WBV. In Experiment 3, a Y-maze reference-memory test was performed after 5 weeks of WBV to obtain a functional cognitive outcome measure of WBV. Pseudo-WBV treated mice served as controls.

Results: In Experiment 1, ChAT-immunoreactivity was significantly enhanced after the last WBV session of the 5-week period. This was found in the septum, Cornu Ammonis 1 (CA1), CA3, and dentate gyrus, and was dependent on layer and time-point (2 or 24 h). Experiment 2 revealed that, ChAT-immunoreactivity was lower after 2 weeks of WBV, whereas it was significantly higher after 5 weeks (similar to in Experiment 1). Immunostaining for synaptophysin, a marker for synaptic density, was also significantly higher after 5 weeks of WBV, but not significantly lower after 2 weeks, as was ChAT. WBV-treated groups performed significantly better than did controls on the balance beam from week 3 onwards. Experiment 3 showed that WBV-treated mice had better spatial-reference memory performance in the Y-maze test than did pseudo-WBV controls.

Conclusions: Our results indicate that WBV stimulates the septo-hippocampal cholinergic system in a gradual and dynamic way that may contribute to improved spatial-memory performance. This finding suggests that WBV, by upregulation of the septo-hippocampal cholinergic system, may be considered a valuable therapeutic strategy to enhance brain functions in aging, neurodegenerative, and other brain diseases.