title: Long-term moderate treadmill exercise promotes stress-coping strategies in male and female rats.
abstract: Recent evidence has revealed the impact of exercise in alleviating anxiety and mood disorders; however, the exercise protocol that exerts such benefit is far from known. The current study was aimed to assess the effects of long-term moderate exercise on behavioural coping strategies (active vs. passive) and Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal response in rats. Sprague-Dawley male and female rats were exposed to 32-weeks of treadmill exercise and then tested for two-way active avoidance learning (shuttle-box). Two groups were used as controls: a non-handled sedentary group, receiving no manipulation, and a control group exposed to a stationary treadmill. Female rats displayed shorter escape responses and higher number of avoidance responses, reaching criterion for performance earlier than male rats. In both sexes, exercise shortened escape latencies, increased the total number of avoidances and diminished the number of trials needed to reach criterion for performance. Those effects were greater during acquisition in female rats, but remained over the shuttle-box sessions in treadmill trained male rats. In females, exercise did not change ACTH and corticosterone levels after shuttle-box acquisition. Collectively, treadmill exercise improved active coping strategies in a sex-dependent manner. In a broader context, moderate exercise could serve as a therapeutic intervention for anxiety and mood disorders.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Neurociències, Departament de Psiquiatria i Medicina Legal, Fac de Medicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.|Laboratori de Psicologia de l'Esport, Departament de Psicologia Bàsica, Fac Psicologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Jaume F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Lalanza
authors.affiliation: Institut de Neurociències, Departament de Psiquiatria i Medicina Legal, Fac de Medicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sanchez-Roige
authors.affiliation: Institut de Neurociències, Departament de Psiquiatria i Medicina Legal, Fac de Medicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.|Carrera de Kinesiología, Facultad de Salud, Universidad Santo Tomás, Los Ángeles, región del Bio-Bio, Chile.
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cigarroa
authors.affiliation: Red de trastornos adictivos (RTA) and Institut de Neurociències, Unitat de Fisiologia Animal, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Humberto
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gagliano
authors.affiliation: Red de trastornos adictivos (RTA) and Institut de Neurociències, Unitat de Fisiologia Animal, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fuentes
authors.affiliation: Red de trastornos adictivos (RTA) and Institut de Neurociències, Unitat de Fisiologia Animal, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Armario
authors.affiliation: Laboratori de Psicologia de l'Esport, Departament de Psicologia Bàsica, Fac Psicologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Lluís
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Capdevila
authors.affiliation: Institut de Neurociències, Departament de Psiquiatria i Medicina Legal, Fac de Medicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Rosa M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Escorihuela
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology; D003345:Corticosterone / Q000378:metabolism; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D007030:Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D010913:Pituitary-Adrenal System / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone; D003345:Corticosterone