Effects of voluntary exercise on apoptosis and cortisol after chronic restraint stress in mice

Abstract

[Purpose]To determine whether voluntary exercise (wheel running) has the potential of relieving stress. [Methods]In this study, restraint stress with or without voluntary wheel running was performed for mice housed in individual cages. A total of 21 ICR male mice were assigned into control (CON), restraint stress with voluntary exercise (RSVE), or restraint stress (RS) without voluntary exercise groups (n = 7 each). [Results]No significant difference in body weight increase was found among the three groups, although CON and RS groups had a tendency of having smaller body weight increase compared to the RSVE group. No significant difference in the expression level of liver heat shock protein 70, Bcl-2, or p53 was found among the three groups. However, caspase-3 protein level in RS group was significantly higher than that in the other two groups. Blood cortisol concentration in RS was higher (p < 0.05) than that in RSVE or CON group. It was the lowest (p < 0.05) in the RSVE group. [Conclusion]Our findings suggest that apoptosis caused by chronic restraint stress might be suppressed by voluntary exercise in mice.

Response of Liver Tissue Bax and Bcl-2 Gene Expression to Aerobic Training with L-Carnitine Supplementation in Rats Toxicated by Boldenone

“…[13,25]. However, the results of the present study are not consistent with some previous studies [7,26,27]. The inconsistency in these results may be due to factors such as short duration of exercise in each session or training period or abnormal levels of apoptotic regulators in the subjects.…”

“…Side effects of anabolic steroids have been reported on various organs of the body, including hepatic apoptosis [17]. Evidence suggests that exercise L activities is associated with the regulation of programmed cell death (apoptosis) in hepatocytes [7]. On the other hand, studies have shown that L-Carnitine has protective effects against drugs that induce damage to body tissues in addition to its known metabolic effects and has an effect on the regulation of gene expression by apoptotic and anti-apoptotic factors [8].…”

Effects of different dark chocolate diets on memory functions and brain corticosterone levels in rats under chronic stress

“…In the current study, corticosterone levels increased in the serum, hippocampus and frontal cortex of the stressed group. Furthermore, chronic stress may alter the learning and memory by stress hormones (such as corticosterone) and other neurochemical factors (Corcoba et al, 2017;Seo et al, 2016).…”

Individualized Running Wheel System with a Dynamically Adjustable Exercise Area and Speed for Rats Following Ischemic Stroke

“…Moreover, we found a significantly lower cortisol level during DEARW rehabilitation. Serum cortisol concentrations were significantly increased under forced swimming or treadmill exercise [ 13 , 32 ]. Several clinical and animal studies have demonstrated that the peri-ischemic concentrations of glucocorticoid hormones (i.e., cortisol in humans and corticosterone in rats), are increased during stressful events, thus exacerbating poor stroke outcome [ 12 ].…”