Fig. 2: Acvr1c expression in hippocampus is induced during object location memory (OLM) consolidation only under exercise conditions that drive memory encoding.
A Detailed schematic displaying the timing of procedures for individual groups. B Simplified Schematic. Created with Biorender.com. C Heat map of genes differentially expressed in each condition compared to sedentary control (0-0-0). Positive log fold change indicates up-regulated genes vs sedentary whereas negative log fold change refers to down-regulated genes. D Number of up-regulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in dorsal hippocampus compared to sedentary. E RT-qPCR data demonstrating that Acvr1c is up-regulated in dorsal hippocampus only in conditions where exercise facilitates learning (14-0-0, n = 9 and 14-7-2, n = 7). One-way ANOVA, Group (F(6,54) = 3.62, P = 0.004). Tukey’s post hoc test: *P < 0.05, +P = 0.05 compared to sedentary (0-0-0, n = 9). Normalization to sedentary (HC and 14-7-0, n = 9, 0-0-2 n = 10 and 14-14-0 n = 8). Data are presented as mean ± SEM. F–H Overlapping volcano plots illustrating the significance (Y-axis) and magnitude (X-axis) of experience-induced changes in each group. Volcano plots show fold change in gene expression between two conditions, using regularized t test and p value corrected for multiple testing. Acvr1c and Bdnf were up-regulated during memory consolidation in both conditions where exercise facilitates learning (14-0-0) (F) and (14-7-2) (H). I Top predicted upstream regulators of 14d initial exercise (14-0-0) vs. sedentary DEGs, 7d sedentary delay (14-7-0) vs. sedentary ( J), and 2d reactivating exercise (14-7-2) vs. sedentary (K). L Venn diagram highlighting common upstream regulators in exercise conditions that facilitate learning (14-0-0 and 14-7-2). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
