en Medical Biology Medical Biology مقاله پژوهشی Original Research Article <span style="font-size:10pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="background:#2d7f8f"><span style="color:white">Background & Objective:</span></span></span></b><b> </b>Aging related to decline in physiological structure and functional capacity in brain. The aim of this research was to examine the differences in the pathophysiology of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) region between young and old rats.<b> </b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="color:black"></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:10pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="background:#2d7f8f"><span style="color:white"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt">&nbsp;Materials & Methods:</span></span></span></span></b> &nbsp;<span style="font-size:9.0pt">The young and <span class="A5" style="color:black">old </span>male Wistar rats (n= 40) were subgroups to normal young (NY), exercise young (EY), normal old (NO) and exercise old (EO). A forced aerobic exercise (FAE) program was established using a treadmill for 12 weeks. The exercise program including a turn off treadmill for normal groups while a turn on treadmill at a speed of 10-12&nbsp;m/min for exercise groups. Toluidine blue and Cresyl-violet staining were used to evaluation of volume white matter (WM) and dark cell numbers in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Levels of glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured by </span><span style="font-size:9.0pt">spectrophotometric and Satoh method</span><span style="font-size:9.0pt">s, respectively. Afterward, the percentage of myelin basic protein (MBP) was assessed using immunohistochemical staining. </span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:10pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="background:#2d7f8f"><span style="color:white">Results: </span></span></span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt">Our findings revealed a significant enhancement in the mean percentage of WM area, percentage of MBP and level of GPx in EO group compared to NO group (P &le; 0.05). Also, the dark cell number and MDA level decreased in the old rats with exercise compared to NO group (P &le; 0.05). However, there was no significant difference between other groups (P &ge; 0.05). </span><b>&nbsp;</b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="color:black"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt"></span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:10pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="background:#2d7f8f"><span style="color:white">Conclusion: </span></span></span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt">The results indicated that normal aging has destructive effects on the PFC and antioxidants rate. However, the regular exercise with specialized program could improve deteriorate changes of aging on brain.</span></span></span><br> &nbsp; Aging, Prefrontal cortex, White matter, Exercise 299 308 http://journal.zums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-6410-3&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mohsen Eslami Farsani ahoramh.82@gmail.com 5200319475328460086694 5200319475328460086694 No Anatomy Department, Faculty of Medicine, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran Shahnaz Razavi dr.sh.ra.1396@gmail.com 5200319475328460086695 5200319475328460086695 Yes Department of Anatomical Sciences, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran Ebrahim Esfandiari esfandiari@Med.mui.ac.ir 5200319475328460086696 5200319475328460086696 No Department of Anatomical Sciences, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran Homa Rasoolijazi hjaz.2010@yahoo.com 5200319475328460086697 5200319475328460086697 No Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Reihaneh Seyedebrahimi reihaneh.s.ebrahimi@gmail.com 5200319475328460086698 5200319475328460086698 No Anatomy Department, Faculty of Medicine, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran Shima Ababzadeh shimaababzadeh@gmail.com 5200319475328460086699 5200319475328460086699 No Tissue Engineering and Applied Cell Sciences Department, Faculty of Medicine, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran