Abstract
Increasing evidence supports that physical activity promotes mental health; and regular exercise may confer positive effects in neurological disorders. There is growing number of reports that requires the analysis of the impact of physical activity in animal models. Exercise in rodents can be performed under voluntary or forced conditions. The former presents the disadvantage that the volume and intensity of exercise varies from subject to subject. On the other hand, a major challenge of the forced training protocol is the low level of performance typically achieved within a given session. Thus, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of gradual increasing of the volume and intensity (training habituation protocol) to improve the locomotor performance in a forced running-wheel system in rats. Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to either a group that received an exercise training habituation protocol, or a control group. The locomotor performance during forced running was assessed by an incremental exercise test. The experimental results reveal that the total running time and the distance covered by habituated rats was significantly higher than in control ones. We conclude that the exercise habituation protocol improves the locomotor performance in forced running wheels.
Highlights
According to the World Health Organization (2010), the lack of physical activity is the fourth leading risk factor for global human mortality
These studies suggest that motor skill training and regular exercise are beneficial to sustaining proper executive functions of cognition and learning, and in some cases it may confer protective effects against the onset of neurological disorders including Parkinson’s disease (Smith and Zigmond, 2003), Alzheimer’s dementia (Cotman and Berchtold, 2002) and stroke (Stummer et al, 1994)
Habituation Effects in Forced Wheel mechanisms associated with physical activity are not entirely known, partly due to a lack of uniformity and parameterization in experimental protocols employed to assess the impact of exercise in animal models
Summary
According to the World Health Organization (2010), the lack of physical activity is the fourth leading risk factor for global human mortality. There is growing evidence supporting a positive impact of increasing regular levels of physical activity on public health (Dishman et al, 2006; Hillman et al, 2008; van Praag, 2009; Vivar et al, 2012) These studies suggest that motor skill training and regular exercise are beneficial to sustaining proper executive functions of cognition and learning (e.g., motor learning in the spinal cord; Edgerton et al, 2004; Hillman et al, 2008), and in some cases it may confer protective effects against the onset of neurological disorders including Parkinson’s disease (Smith and Zigmond, 2003), Alzheimer’s dementia (Cotman and Berchtold, 2002) and stroke (Stummer et al, 1994). The aim of the present study is to develop and evaluate a protocol of habituation training to enhance the locomotor performance of young adult rats subjected to a progressive incremental running load test in a forced running-wheel system (Bentley et al, 2007)
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