Whole body vibration ameliorates anxiety-like behavior and memory functions in 30 months old senescent male rats

Whole body vibration (WBV) is a form of passive exercise that offers an alternative physical training to aged individuals with limitations in their physical and mental capabilities. The aim of the present study was to explore the therapeutic potential of five weeks of WBV on anxiety-like behaviors as well as learning and memory abilities in senescent thirty months old rats. Animals were exposed to 5 min vibration twice per day, five times per week during the five consecutive weeks. Pseudo WBV treated animals served as controls. After five weeks of WBV treatment, animals were tested for anxiety-like behavior by the open field test and for spatial and object memory functions by the novel and spatial object recognition tests, respectively. As a result, anxiety-like and exploratory behaviors were significantly improved in the WBV treated group compared to the pseudo WBV group. Furthermore, WBV treatment increased discrimination performance in both spatial and object memory function testing. These results indicate that WBV treatment in thirty months old rats seems to have comparable beneficial effects on age-related emotional and cognitive performance as what has been reported in younger age groups.