Locomotor exercise increases neurotrophin BDNF and its receptor TrkBFL expression in the lumbar spinal cord. Involvement of BDNF/TrkBFL in synaptic transmission raises the questions which intracellular compartments are involved in this upregulation and whether exercise leads to redistribution of these proteins related to the duration of exercise. We have investigated ...

OBJECTIVE: Recent studies from our groups have indicated that endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) expression is increased in cell culture by both shear stress and by hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)). In vivo, exercise training, known to increase both endothelial shear stress and oxidative stress, also increases eNOS expression. It is unclear ...

Exercise is recommended both as a prophylactic and also as a therapeutic approach for patients with established coronary artery disease. In this study, we investigated the effect of a normal chow diet, with or without exercise in LDL r-/- mice with preexisting atherosclerotic lesions. A total of 28 LDL r-/- ...

Recently, locomotor training has been shown to improve overground locomotion in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). This has triggered renewed interest in the role of exercise in rehabilitation after SCI. However, there are no mouse models for voluntary exercise and recovery of function following SCI. Here, we report voluntary ...

PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of strenuous exercise and antioxidant administration on pro- and antiapoptotic protein expression in intestinal lymphocytes. METHODS: Female C57BL/6 mice (N = 52) were randomly assigned to receive N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC; 1 g.kg(-1)) or saline (SAL) 30 min before treadmill exercise (EX) for 90 min and 2 ...

The purposes of this study were to determine plasma and intestinal epinephrine (E) and norepinephrine (NE) concentrations in mice after exercise stress and, the effect of intravenous injection of E and NE (at concentrations during exercise) on viability of intestinal lymphocytes (IL). Exhaustive exercise significantly elevated plasma E and NE, ...

Exercise is an important facet of behavior that enhances brain health and function. Increased expression of the plasticity molecule brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) as a response to exercise may be a central factor in exercise-derived benefits to brain function. In rodents, daily wheel-running exercise increases BDNF gene and protein levels ...

We embarked on a study to delineate the behavioural changes in mice after 4 weeks of voluntary exercise. As an initial behavioural characterization, we exposed the control and exercising mice to a modified hole board and an open field test. As compared to control mice, exercising animals showed clear signs ...

The authors examined the effects of activity wheel running (AWR) and propranolol on contextual fear conditioning (CFC) and messenger RNA (mRNA) for galanin (GAL) in the locus coeruleus (LC) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the hippocampal formation (HF) in rats. Freezing behavior during the testing session of the CFC ...

The antidepressants, reboxetine and citalopram, were used in conjunction with voluntary physical exercise (wheel running) in order to assess the contribution of noradrenergic and serotonergic activation to enhancements in hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression resulting from antidepressant treatment and exercise. Reboxetine (40 mg/kg/day), citalopram (10 mg/kg/day), voluntary physical activity, ...

With the generation of mouse models of human cardiovascular or neuromuscular disorders, the development of noninvasive methods to evaluate the physiological responses to exercise presents an important challenge. The possibility for determining critical speed (CS) in the mouse model was examined according to strain (CD1, C57BL/6J, FVB/N) and sex. Sixty ...

Previous studies have suggested that exercise in a running wheel can be neuroprotective, perhaps due to, among others, gene-expression changes after exercise, increases in trophic proteins and/or enhanced cardiovascular responsivity. Here we ask whether physical exercise or environmental enrichment provide protection after brain damage, especially in terms of recovery of ...

Efflux transporters such as P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and multidrug resistance-associated proteins (Mrps) and their contributions to saquinavir (SQV) brain uptake were characterized. Cerebral flow rate was estimated from diazepam uptake and brain vascular volume was assessed using inulin. Mice brains were perfused with buffer containing SQV alone or coperfused with different ...

We found that a short exercise period enhanced cognitive function on the Morris water maze (MWM), such that exercised animals were significantly better than sedentary controls at learning and recalling the location of the platform. The finding that exercise increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a molecule important for synaptic plasticity ...

Chronic exercise in vivo aggravates dystrophy in mdx mice. Calcium homeostasis was evaluated ex vivo by micro-spectrofluorometry on tendon-to-tendon dissected extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscle fibers. Resting cytosolic calcium ([Ca2+]i) and sarcolemmal permeability through Gd3+ -sensitive mechanosensitive calcium (MsCa) channel were significantly higher in mdx vs. wild-type fibers. The exercise ...

The disposition of the furocoumarin 4,6,4'-trimethylangelicin (4,6,4'-TMA) was studied in mice. After oral administration of (3)H 4,6,4'-TMA, radioactivity measured in serum shows fast absorption and slow elimination. Serum protein binding is higher as compared to 8-methoxypsoralen (8-MOP), currently used in photochemotherapy (PUVA) and linearly declines from 30 min to 6 ...

Reports concerning the influence of exercise loading and steroid administration on dystrophinopathy are inconsistent. To investigate the effect of muscle exercise in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), 15 control and 15 mdx mice, an animal model of DMD, were divided into free-living (n = 6), exercise (n = 6), and immobilization ...

Viscoelastic properties of skin samples were measured in three types of mice (tight skin, Tsk, control and Mov-13), that are known to differ with regard to content of type I collagen. The experimental design used uniaxial stretching and measured the creep response and the complex compliance. The creep response was ...

Previous work suggests that normal GLUT4 content is sufficient for increases in muscle glucose uptake (MGU) during exercise because GLUT4 overexpression does not increase exercise-stimulated MGU. Instead of glucose transport, glucose phosphorylation is a primary limitation of exercise-stimulated MGU. It was hypothesized that a partial ablation of GLUT4 would not ...

The role of heart-type cytosolic fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP) in mediating whole body and muscle-specific long-chain fatty acid (LCFA) and glucose utilization was examined using exercise as a phenotyping tool. Catheters were chronically implanted in a carotid artery and jugular vein of wild-type (WT, n = 8), heterozygous (H-FABP(+/-), n ...

Intense exercise to exhaustion leads to increased susceptibility and severity of infections. T cells play an essential role in control of viral infections. Whereas immune suppression is considered as a likely mechanism for exhaustive exercise-induced susceptibility to infection, we know little about viral-specific T-cell response following exhaustive exercise in young ...

This project was designed to determine the genetic (between-strain) and environmental (within-strain) variance in daily running wheel activity level in inbred mice. Five male and five female mice, 9.7-15.3 wk old, from each of 13 strains (A/J, AKR/J, BALB/cJ, C3H/HeJ, C57Bl/6J, C57L/J, C3Heb/FeJ, CBA/J, DBA/2J, SWR/J, MRL/MpJ, SPRET/Ei, and CAST/Ei) ...

OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine if physical inactivity affects endothelial function in young healthy individuals. BACKGROUND: Recent studies have linked exercise training to increased bioavailability of vascular nitric oxide (NO) and to improved endothelial function in patients with cardiovascular disorders. The effects of physical inactivity on normal vascular endothelial function ...

AIM: At menopause, many women consume phytoestrogens instead of beginning hormone replacement therapy. Many also start exercise programs for health benefits. Genistein, a soy isoflavone with estrogen-like properties, induces lymphocyte apoptosis in vitro. Aerobic exercise also induces apoptosis in lymphoid cells. The present study was designed to determine the effect ...

The acetylation state of core histones is controlled by two classes of enzymes, histone acetyl transferases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs). HDAC inhibitors, such as trichostatin-A (TSA), are able to induce cell cycle arrest by stimulating transcription of genes that negatively regulate cell growth and survival. However, little is known ...

How an individual's sex and genetic background modify cardiac adaptation to increased workload is a topic of great interest. We systematically evaluated morphological and physiological cardiac adaptation in response to voluntary and forced exercise. We found that sex/gender is a dominant factor in exercise performance (in two exercise paradigms and ...

Moderate exercise training is associated with a decreased risk for upper respiratory tract infection in human and animal studies, but the mechanisms have not been elucidated. Lung macrophages play an important role in resistance to respiratory infection, and moderate exercise can enhance macrophage antiviral resistance, but no studies have directly ...

Physical activity has been shown to be neuroprotective in lesions affecting the basal ganglia. Using a treadmill exercise paradigm, we investigated the effect of exercise on neurorestoration. The 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-lesioned mouse model provides a means to investigate the effect of exercise on neurorestoration because 30-40% of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons survive ...

PURPOSE: To test the effects of oat beta-glucan (ObetaG) on respiratory infection, macrophage antiviral resistance, and NK cytotoxicity. METHODS: Mice were randomly assigned to one of four groups: Ex-H2O, Ex-ObetaG, Con-H2O, or Con-ObetaG. ObetaG was fed in the drinking water for 10 d before intranasal inoculation of HSV-1 or sacrifice. ...

We report a critical role for the T-box transcription factor Tbx5 in development and maturation of the cardiac conduction system. We find that Tbx5 is expressed throughout the central conduction system, including the atrioventricular bundle and bundle branch conduction system. Tbx5 haploinsufficiency in mice (Tbx5(del/+)), a model of human Holt-Oram ...

One of the main factors that control vasoreactivity and angiogenesis is nitric oxide produced by endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). We recently showed that knocking out eNOS induces an important reduction of mitochondrial oxidative capacity in slow-twitch skeletal muscle. Here we investigated eNOS's role in physical activity and contribution to ...

Fatiguing exercise can increase susceptibility to respiratory infection after intranasal inoculation with herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) in male mice. Although gender differences in susceptibility to certain pathogens do exist, it is unknown whether female mice will respond differently than males in response to strenuous exercise and HSV-1 infection. PURPOSE: To ...

Following exercise, AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activity is increased several fold in rat liver and adipose tissue as well as muscle; however, the mechanism by which this occurs is not known. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is released from muscle in large amounts during and after sustained physical activity resulting in up to ...

Intense exercise leads to post-exercise lymphocytopenia and immunosuppression, possibly by triggering lymphocyte apoptosis. To test the role of oxidative stress on exercise-induced lymphocyte apoptosis, we administered the antioxidant N-acetyl--cysteine (NAC) and measured apoptosis in intestinal lymphocytes (IL) from exhaustively exercised animals. Eighty-seven female C57BL/6 mice were randomly assigned to receive ...

OBJECTIVE: To compare the effect of voluntary exercise on body weight, food consumption, and levels of serum proteins between wild-type and carboxypeptidase E-deficient (Cpefat/fat) mice. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Study 1 consisted of three groups of female mice: Cpefat/fat mice with continuous access to exercise wheels for 3 weeks (n ...

In this study we examined the timecourse of induction of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) mRNA and protein after 1, 3, 5, 7, 14 and 28 days of exercise in the rat. To measure the expression of mRNA for individual BDNF exons we utilized a semi-quantitative RT-PCR technique, while BDNF protein ...

While the histological and ultrastructural changes associated with distraction osteogenesis have been extensively characterized using various animal models, the molecular mechanisms governing this technique remain poorly understood. In the current study, for the first time, we describe a mouse mandibular distraction osteogenesis model. Development of this model will allow assessment ...

Exhaustive exercise is associated with an increase in circulating glucocorticoids (GCs), lymphocyte apoptosis, and a reduction in intestinal lymphocyte number. The present study examined the role of GCs on the numerical changes seen in intestinal lymphocytes after exercise. Female C57BL/6 mice were bilaterally adrenalectomized (ADX; n = 18) or given ...

The pathogenic mechanisms by which physical exercise influences atherosclerotic lesion formation remain poorly understood. Because vigorous physical training increases oxidative stress, this study tested the hypothesis that graduated and moderate physical exercise together with metabolic intervention (l-arginine and antioxidants) may contribute to increased vascular protection. Exercise training in mice was ...

Recent advances in understanding the role of neurotrophins on activity-dependent plasticity have provided insight into how behavior can affect specific aspects of neuronal biology. We present evidence that voluntary exercise can prime adult dorsal root ganglion neurons for increased axonal regeneration through a neurotrophin-dependent mechanism. Dorsal root ganglion neurons showed ...

We tested the hypothesis that a single allele deletion of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) would impair the neural control of heart rate following physical training, and that this phenotype could be restored following targeted gene transfer of nNOS. Voluntary wheel-running (+EX) in heterozygous nNOS knockout mice (nNOS(+/-), +EX; n= ...

Both moderate exercise and the soluble fiber beta-glucan can have beneficial effects on the initiation and growth of tumors, but the data are limited, and there is no information on their combined effects. This study tested the independent and combined effects of short-term moderate-exercise training and the soluble oat fiber ...

Neural stem cells in the adult brain may contribute to learning and neural plasticity, to stress-induced neuropathologic changes, to mood and affective disorders, and to other complex brain functions. Learning, an enriched environment, and exercise (as modeled by running) all increase neural stem cell proliferation in the hippocampus and improve ...

TCHQ is a major carcinogenic metabolite of the widely used wood preservative PCP. Recently, we found that TCHQ was a promoter in a mouse skin carcinogenesis model. However, the mechanism is still not clear. In this study, we showed that overexpression of Bcl-2 effectively suppressed TCHQ-induced apoptosis in NIH3T3 cells, ...

To assess the relationship between brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and synapsin I in the hippocampus during exercise, we employed a novel microsphere injection method to block the action of BDNF through its tyrosine kinase (Trk) receptor and subsequently measure the mRNA levels of synapsin I, using real-time TaqMan RT-PCR for ...

The G93A transgenic mouse has a mutation in copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD) that results in oxidative stress and motor neuron loss. Endurance exercise training is known to increase antioxidant capacity in skeletal muscle. Therefore, we hypothesized that endurance training may extend onset of disease or survival in the G93A mouse. ...

A single bout of exercise increases production of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70), which protects cells against various stresses. In this study, we investigated whether endurance exercise training enhances liver level of HSP70 and, if so, whether HSP70 contributes to hepatic protection against stress in vivo. Mice of an exercise-training ...

OBJECTIVE: The sympathetic nervous system enhances cardiac muscle function by activating beta adrenergic receptors (betaARs). Recent studies suggest that chronic betaAR stimulation is detrimental, however, and that it may play a role in the clinical deterioration of patients with congestive heart failure. To examine the impact of chronic beta1AR and ...

Pyridostigmine bromide, a reversible anticholinesterase drug, was used by military personnel during the Gulf War. They were under physical stress and might have been exposed to low-dose nerve gas, sarin. This study examined the interactions of low-dose sarin and pyridostigmine in exercised mice. Male NIH Swiss mice were treated as ...

Principal mental disorders affecting the geriatric population include dementia and depression. A lack of trophic support is thought to contribute to the pathology of these disorders. Physical activity and antidepressant treatment increase the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the young rat hippocampus. Herein, we investigated the responsiveness of ...