1. Voluntary exercise enables stress resistance in females.
- Author
-
Tanner MK, Fallon IP, Baratta MV, and Greenwood BN
- Subjects
- Animals, Anxiety therapy, Fear physiology, Fear psychology, Female, Physical Conditioning, Animal physiology, Physical Exertion physiology, Rats, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Sex Characteristics, Sex Factors, Social Behavior, Motor Activity physiology, Stress, Psychological therapy
- Abstract
Stress-related disorders are more common in females than males. This difference could arise from differential responses to behavioral interventions that enable stress resistance between sexes. In male rats, regular physical activity prevents the behavioral consequences of uncontrollable stress, such as social avoidance and exaggerated fear conditioning. However, it is unknown if these protective effects are also present in females. Here we demonstrate for the first time in female rats that six weeks of voluntary wheel running buffers against the behavioral sequelae of uncontrollable stress. This observation allows for mechanistic investigations of exercise-induced stress resistance in both sexes., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF