Physical exercise improves multiple aspects of hippocampal function. In line with the notion that neuronal activity is key to promoting neuronal functions, previous literature has consistently demonstrated that acute bouts of exercise evoke neuronal activation in the hippocampus. Repeated activating stimuli lead to an accumulation of the transcription factor ΔFosB, which mediates long-term neur...

The sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase (SERCA) actively transports into the sarcoplasmic to facilitate cardiac muscle relaxation. Phospholamban (PLN) allosterically inhibits SERCA, and an imbalance of SERCA2a, dominant isoform, PLN content disrupts homeostasis contractility. A previous study has shown that ovariectomized (OVX) rats have reduced SERCA activity due lowered SERCA2a increased...

Aging leads to sarcopenia and loss of physical function. We examined whether voluntary wheel running, when combined with dietary supplementation with (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) and β-alanine (β-ALA), could improve muscle function and alter gene expression in the gastrocnemius of aged mice. Seventeen-month-old BALB/cByJ mice were given access to a running wheel or remained sedentary f...

The ventral tegmental area (VTA) plays an essential role in reward and motivation. How the dopamine (DA) and non-DA neurons in the VTA engage in motivation-based locomotor behaviors is not well understood. We recorded activity of putative DA and non-DA neurons simultaneously in the VTA of awake mice engaged in motivated voluntary movements such as wheel running. Our results revealed that VTA no...

introduction: polycystic ovary syndrome (pcos) is one of the most common endocrinological pathologies in women during their reproductive years with ovulatory dysfunction, abdominal obesity, hyperandrogenism and insulin resistance. the aim of the present research was to evaluate the total antioxidant capacity (tac), total oxidant status (tos), free testosterone, ovarian morphology and estrous cy...

Little is known about how genetic variation affects the capacity for exercise to change body composition. We examined the extent to which voluntary exercise alters body composition in several lines of selectively bred mice compared to controls. Lines studied included high runner (HR) (selected for high wheel running), M16 (selected for rapid weight gain), Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) (ran...

Hydock DS, Lien C-Y, Schneider CM, Hayward R. Effects of voluntary wheel running on cardiac function and myosin heavy chain in chemically gonadectomized rats. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 293: H3254–H3264, 2007. First published September 28, 2007; doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00801.2007.—Reducing testosterone and estrogen levels with a luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonist such as Zoladex (i...