Background:Our previous study has confirmed that one bout of exhaustion (Ex) can cause hippocampus neurocyte damage,excessive apoptosis,and dysfunction.Its initial reason is intracellular calcium overload in hippocampus triggered by N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptor (NMDAR) over-activation.NMDAR activation can be suppressed by γ-aminobutyric acid (A) receptor (GABAAR).Whether GABAAR can prevent intense exercise-induced hippocampus apoptosis,damage,or dysfunction will be studied in this study.Methods:According to dose test,rats were randomly divided into control (Con),Ex,muscimol (MUS,0.l mg/kg) and bicuculline (BIC,0.5 mg/kg) groups,then all rats underwent once swimming Ex except ones in Con group only underwent training.Intracellular free calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) was measured by Fura-2-acetoxymethyl ester;glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and synaptophysin (SYP) immunofluorescence were also performed;apoptosis were displayed by dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) stain;endoplasmic reticulum stress-induced apoptosis pathway was detected by West blotting analysis;Morris water maze was used to detect leing ability and spatial memory.Results:The appropriate dose was 0.1 mg/kg for MUS and 0.5 mg/kg for BIC.Ex group showed significantly increased [Ca2+]i and astrogliosis;TUNEL positive cells and levels of GFAP,B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) associated X protein (Bax),caspase-3,caspase-12 cleavage,CCAAT/enhancer binding protein homologous protein (CHOP),and p-Jun amino-terminal kinase (p-JNK) in Ex group also raised significantly compared to Con group,while SYP,synapse plasticity,and Bcl-2 levels in Ex group were significantly lower than those in Con group.These indexes were back to normal in MUS group.BIC group had the highest levels of [Ca2+]i,astrogliosis,TUNEL positive cell,GFAP,Bax,caspase-3,caspase-12 cleavage,CHOP,and p-JNK,it also gained the lowest SYP,synapse plasticity,and Bcl-2 levels among all groups.Water maze test showed that Ex group had longer escape latency (EL) and less quadrant dwell time than Con group;all indexes between MUS and Con groups had no significant differences;BIC had the longest EL and least quadrant dwell time among all groups.Conclusions:Activation of GABAAR could prevent intense exercise-induced synapses damage,excessive apoptosis,and dysfunction of hippocampus.