Voluntary wheel running modulates glutamate receptor subunit gene expression and stress hormone release in Lewis rats

Chronic voluntary wheel running facilitates corticosterone response habituation to repeated audiogenic stress exposure in male rats

“…This is consistent with previous findings in which 4 weeks of wheel running had no effect on corticosterone concentrations at either the trough or the peak of the circadian cycle in male Sprague-Dawley rats (Fediuc et al 2006), but in contrast to other studies reporting increased basal corticosterone concentrations with respect to sedentary controls after 3 weeks of wheel access in male Lewis rats at the trough (Makatsori et al 2003) and C57BL/6 mice at the peak (Droste et al 2003) of their circadian cycles. Thus it appears that the duration of running wheel access, rat strain, species type, and phase of the circadian cycle in which hormone concentrations are measured are all important contributors to basal HPA-axis tone, and should therefore be carefully considered when comparing physically active and more sedentary animals on this particular measure.…”

Effects of physical exercise and social isolation on anxiety-related behaviors in two inbred rat strains

“…Interestingly, studies have been demonstrating great variability in the distance traveled by LEW rats. For example, Makatsori et al (2003) showed that individual running distance traveled by LEW rats varied considerably, ranging from 4 to 6 km, whereas Roebuck et al (1990), similarly to the present results, reported that LEW rats ran voluntarily less than 1 km/day. The discrepancies in the distance traveled by LEW rats may be due to differences in experimental protocols, including type and size of the running wheel, sub-strain, acclimatization to the apparatus and other conditions in the maintenance of rats.…”

Adrenal peripheral clock disruption leads to altered circadian behavioral responses to voluntary exercise in middle-aged female mice

“…This cannot be due to the increase of WRA during this period, since WRA of BMAS animals was fairly constant during the whole nighttime period. One may expect that wheel running, like other types of running, activates the HPA axis as well as the sympathetic nervous system (Girard & Garland 2002;Makatsori et al 2003;Naylor et al 2005;Droste et al 2006;Fediuc et al 2006;Droste et al 2007;Droste et al 2009a;Droste et al 2009b). However, the extent of activation is much lower in voluntary wheel running because it avoids the excessive stress inherent in forced treadmill running (Noble et al 1999), and mostly involves low-to-moderate resistance with higher repetition (Konhilas et al 2005).…”

“…Like other stressors, voluntary wheel running is known to activate the HPA axis resulting in glucocorticoid secretion (Girard & Garland 2002;Makatsori et al 2003;Naylor et al 2005;Droste et al 2006;Fediuc et al 2006;Stranahan et al 2006;Droste et al 2007;Droste et al 2009a;Droste et al 2009b). Yet, voluntary running does not present any psychological indicators of threat or fear.…”