Objective: 

Anxiety which is known as the status of increasing concern whitout any threatening around generates in amygdala. The evidences obtained in recent years point to that the medial prefrontal cortex edits and checks the amygdala outputs. Regular exercise during pregnancy is known to affect possitively offspring learning and memory. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of aerobic exercise during pregnancy on the offspring's anxiety and the levels of VEGF and BDNF which have anxiolytic effects in the prefrontal cortex where anxiety-related region of the brain.

Methods: 

Groups; maternally exercised and sedentary. Early evaluation at 26 days old, late evaluation 4 months old. Before pregnancy, familiarization was performed at 5m/ min-10min for 5 days; during pregnancy, 30 min/day, 8m/min, 5 days/week; last 10 days of pregnancy, exercise intensity was reduced to 6m/min.

Results: 

Unrelated to sex, all offsprings of mothers who have exercised during pregnancy, at prepubertal and adult period, had increased locomotor activity, had lower anxiety levels and took more risk (all groups, p<0.001). VEGF and BDNF levels in the prefrontal cortex also were increased in both age groups and sexes (prepubertal, p <0.001; adult, p <0.003). In addition, it was found that there was higly positive corelation between the open-field test results with the levels of BDNF and elevated + maze with VEGF levels (BDNF, r=0.718, p<0.000; VEGF, r=0.606, p<0.000). There was no difference in blood cortisol levels of the groups.

Conclusions: 

As a result, this study indicates that exercise during pregnancy positively affects the prefrontal cortex of offspring and protects them from anxiety in early and late periods of their lives.