AUTHOR=Alghamdi Badrah Saeed 

TITLE=The Effect of Melatonin and Exercise on Social Isolation-Related Behavioral Changes in Aged Rats

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2022.828965

DOI=10.3389/fnagi.2022.828965

ISSN=1663-4365

ABSTRACT=Social isolation (SI) is well established as an environmental factor that negatively influences different behavioural parameters, including cognitive function, anxiety, and social interaction, depending on the age of isolation. Aging is a physiological process that is associated with changes in cognitive function, locomotor activity, anxiety and emotional responses. Few studies have investigated the effect of SI in senescence, or possible interventions. In the current study, we investigated the possible complementary effects of melatonin (MLT) and exercise (Ex) in improving SI-related behavioural changes in aged rats. Forty aged Wistar rats (24 months old) were randomly divided into five groups (n = 8 per group): group housed (two rats per cage), SI (individual housing for 7 weeks), SI + MLT (SI rats treated with 0.4 mg MLT / ml in drinking water), SI + Ex (SI rats treated with 60 min of swimming), and SI + MLT + Ex (SI rats treated with both MLT and Ex). Different behavioural tasks were conducted in the following sequence: open field test, elevated plus maze test, sucrose preference test, Y maze test, and Morris water maze test. The results indicated that MLT in combination with Ex significantly improved locomotor activity, reduced anxiety index scores in the elevated plus maze and improved long-term spatial memory in the Morris water maze compared with the SI group.