Effect of aerobic exercise on learning, memory and expression of endothelial factors in the hippocampus of mice with irradiated brain.

Radiotherapy is an oncological treatment modality that uses ionizing radiation in order to eliminate neoplastic cells. Despite the benefits associated with this practice, such as increased patient survival, one of the main disadvantages is that radiation is not selective and may affect adjacent healthy tissue. Exercise increases neurogenesis, expression of growth factors and synaptic plasticity in the hippocampal region of rodents, and these changes have been associated, along with improved microcirculation, to increased function, cognitive, spatial memory and learning.