[Voluntary wheel running exercise regulates microglia polarization in hippocampus through STAT3 signal pathway to inhibit depression-like behavior induced by chronic stress in rats].

This paper was aimed to investigate the effect of voluntary wheel running exercise on depression-like behavior induced by chronic water immersion restraint stress (CWIRS) and the underlying mechanism. Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats received CWIRS to induce depression-like behavior and 4-week voluntary wheel running exercise. Meanwhile, the rats were treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or STAT3 over-expression vector (pcDNA-STAT3) by intracerebroventricular injection.