Exercise pre-conditioning ameliorates blood-brain barrier dysfunction in stroke by enhancing basal lamina.

Objective: We investigated whether exercise pre-conditioning ameliorates stroke-induced blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction by strengthening basal lamina.

Methods: Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to a 30 minute exercise program on a treadmill each day for 3 weeks. Stroke was induced by a 2 hour middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion using an intraluminal filament in the exercised and non-exercised groups.