AI Article Synopsis

  • The study examines how prolonged access to a running wheel affects reward sensitivity in rats, using electrical self-stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus as a measure of hedonic state.
  • Rats that ran for 2 or 5 weeks showed a significant decrease in the current needed for them to respond to reward stimuli, suggesting they became more sensitive to rewards compared to control rats.
  • There was a noted correlation where rats that ran more had greater decreases in their reward thresholds, indicating that long-term exercise may boost sensitivity to rewards, potentially explaining its mood-lifting effects.

Article Abstract

Physical exercise has mood-enhancing and antidepressant properties although the mechanisms underlying these effects are not known. The present experiment investigated the effects of prolonged access to a running wheel on electrical self-stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus (LHSS), a measure of hedonic state, in rats. Rats with continuous voluntary access to a running wheel for either 2 or 5 weeks exhibited dramatic leftward shifts in the effective current 50 (ECu50; current value that supports half of maximum responding) of their LHSS current-response functions compared to their baselines, indicating a decrease in reward threshold, whereas control rats current-response functions after 2 or 5 weeks were not significantly different from baseline. An inverse correlation existed between the change in ECu50 from baseline and the amount an animal had run in the day prior to LHSS testing, indicating that animals that exhibited higher levels of running showed a more robust decrease in LHSS threshold. We conclude that long-term voluntary exercise increases sensitivity to rewarding stimuli, which may contribute to its antidepressant properties.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4433312PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0029149DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

antidepressant properties
8
access running
8
running wheel
8
current-response functions
8
voluntary running-wheel
4
running-wheel exercise
4
exercise decreases
4
decreases threshold
4
threshold rewarding
4
rewarding intracranial
4

Similar Publications

and formula alleviates depressive behaviors microglia regulation in an unpredictable chronic mild stress animal model.

J Tradit Complement Med

January 2025

Institute of Food Science and Technology, College of Bioresources and Agriculture, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.

Background And Aim: (CM) and (AM) are medicinal mushrooms with potential applications in the treatment of mood disorders, including depression and anxiety. While research suggests that both CM and AM possess anti-inflammatory properties and hold potential for treating depression when administered separately, there is limited knowledge about their efficacy when combined in a formula, as well as the underlying mechanism involving the modulation of microglia.

Experimental Procedure: Rats received oral administrations of the low-dose formulation, medium-dose formulation, and high-dose formulation over 28 consecutive days as part of the UCMS protocols.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Carbon dot embedded hybrid microgel from synthesis to sensing: Experimental and theoretical approach.

Anal Chim Acta

February 2025

Department of Chemistry and Centre of Advanced Studies in Chemistry, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 160014, India; Department of Applied Chemistry, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, Simhat, Haringhata, West Bengal, 741249, India. Electronic address:

Background: The intellectual progress in fabricating artificial probes for selective appraisal of biologically admissible amino acids has displayed exponential growth in recent era.The neoteric era in material science has witnessed the significant application of carbon quantum dots (CQDs). However, the hybrid microgel of CQDs was less explored.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Preclinical and in silico studies of 3-benzothioyl-1-(3-hydroxy-3-phenyl-3-propyl)-1-methylthiourea: a promising agent for depression and anxiety.

Eur J Pharmacol

January 2025

Department of Pharmacy, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Mardan-23200, Pakistan; Department of Pharmacy, Korea University, Sejong 20019, South Korea. Electronic address:

The study investigated the anxiolytic, antidepressant, sedative/hypnotic and in silico molecular docking properties of the synthetic ephedrine-based derivative of thiourea, 3-benzothioyl-1-(3-hydroxy-3-phenyl-3-propyl)-1-methylthiourea. Safety profile of the compound at various doses was determined in an acute toxicity test. Results showed significant anti-anxiety effects of the compound in all mice studies.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Psilocybin represents a novel therapeutic approach for individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) who do not respond to conventional antidepressant treatment. Investigating the influence of psilocybin on the pathophysiological processes involved in MDD could enhance our neurobiological understanding of the presumed antidepressant action mechanism. This systematic review aims to summarize the results of human studies investigating changes in blood-based biomarkers of MDD to guide future research on potentially relevant analytes that could be monitored in clinical trials.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Spectroscopic properties of Tb-doped and Tb-Ag codoped lithium tetraborate (LTB) glasses with LiBO (or LiO-2BO) composition are investigated and analysed using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), optical absorption, photoluminescence (PL) and photoluminescence excitation (PLE) spectra, PL decay kinetics and absolute quantum yield (QY) measurements. PL spectra of the investigated glasses show numerous narrow emission bands corresponding to the D → F (J = 6-0) and D → F (J = 5-3) transitions of Tb (4f) ions. The most intense PL band of Tb ions at 541 nm (D → F transition) is characterised by a lifetime slightly exceeding 2.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!