Exercise craving potentiates excitatory inputs to ventral tegmental area dopaminergic neurons.

Physical exercise, which can be addictogenic on its own, is considered a therapeutic alternative for drug craving. Exercise might thus share with drugs the ability to strengthen excitatory synapses onto ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopaminergic neurones, as assessed by the ratio of AMPA receptor (AMPAR)-mediated excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) to NMDA receptor (NMDAR)-mediated EPSCs. As did acute cocaine, amphetamine, or Δ -tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) pretreatments, an acute 1-h wheel-running session increased the AMPAR/NMDAR ratio in VTA dopaminergic neurones.

Cannabis and exercise: Effects of Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol on preference and motivation for wheel-running in mice.

Recent surveys have revealed close links between cannabis and exercise. Specifically, cannabis usage before and/or after exercise is an increasingly common habit primarily aimed at boosting exercise pleasure, motivation, and performance whilst facilitating post-exercise recovery. However, whether these beliefs reflect the true impact of cannabis on these aspects of exercise is unknown.

An Operant Conditioning Task to Assess the Choice between Wheel Running and Palatable Food in Mice.

Wheel running, especially in the homecage, has been widely used to study the neurobiology of exercise because animal tends to use it voluntarily. However, as for each reward, its consumption (in the present case, running performance) does not specifically provide information on its incentive value, , the extent to which animals are motivated to run independently from their consumption of that reward. This is a major drawback, especially when focusing on the neurobiology governing the pathological imbalances between exercise and , feeding (obesity, anorexia nervosa).

Beyond the Activity-Based Anorexia Model: Reinforcing Values of Exercise and Feeding Examined in Stressed Adolescent Male and Female Mice.

Anorexia nervosa (AN), mostly observed in female adolescents, is the most fatal mental illness. Its core is a motivational imbalance between exercise and feeding in favor of the former. The most privileged animal model of AN is the "activity-based anorexia" (ABA) model wherein partly starved rodents housed with running wheels exercise at the expense of feeding.

The motivation for exercise over palatable food is dictated by cannabinoid type-1 receptors.

The lack of intrinsic motivation to engage in, and adhere to, physical exercise has major health consequences. However, the neurobiological bases of exercise motivation are still unknown. This study aimed at examining whether the endocannabinoid system (ECS) is involved in this process.