Abstract #4182

The Influence of Physical Activity on the Structure & Metabolism of the Mouse Hippocampus - Combining 1H MRS & VBM at 9.4T

Wolfgang Weber-Fahr¹, Sarah Biedermann¹, Lei Zheng^1,2, Claudia Falfn-Melgoza¹, Johannes Fuss³, Alexander Sartorius³, Peter Gass³, Gabriele Ende¹

¹Neuroimaging, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany; ²Experimental Radiation Oncology, , University Medical Center Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany; ³Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany

Voluntary wheel running in mice is known to effectively increase hippocampal neurogenesis within weeks. We assessed metabolic and structural profiles of the right hippocampus in two groups of mice which differed by their access to wheel running, using in vivo ¹H MRS and Voxel-Based Morphometry (VBM) with a cryogenic mouse-brain coil. The MRS findings show a significant decrease of Glutamate in the right hippocampus of the sport-group. The VBM over the whole brain revealed a significant cluster of increased grey matter in the right hippocampus and a negative correlation between Glutamate and volume in the same region.