title: Running exercise protects the capillaries in white matter in a rat model of depression.
abstract: Running has been shown to improve depressive symptoms when used as an adjunct to medication. However, the mechanisms underlying the antidepressant effects of running are not fully understood. Changes of capillaries in white matter have been discovered in clinical patients and depression model rats. Considering the important part of white matter in depression, running may cause capillary structural changes in white matter. Chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) rats were provided with a 4-week running exercise (from the fifth week to the eighth week) for 20 minutes each day for 5 consecutive days each week. Anhedonia was measured by a behavior test. Furthermore, capillary changes were investigated in the control group, the CUS/Standard group, and the CUS/Running group using stereological methods. The 4-week running increased sucrose consumption significantly in the CUS/Running group and had significant effects on the total volume, total length, and total surface area of the capillaries in the white matter of depression rats. These results demonstrated that exercise-induced protection of the capillaries in white matter might be one of the structural bases for the exercise-induced treatment of depression. It might provide important parameters for further study of the vascular mechanisms of depression and a new research direction for the development of clinical antidepressant means. J. Comp. Neurol. 524:3577-3586, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, P.R. China.|Laboratory of Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lin-Mu
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, First Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ai-Pin
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, P.R. China.|Laboratory of Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Fei-Fei
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, P.R. China.|Laboratory of Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Chuan-Xue
authors.initials: CX
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, First Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Chun-Xia
authors.initials: CX
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, P.R. China.|Laboratory of Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, P.R. China.|Laboratory of Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, P.R. China.|Laboratory of Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Chun-Ni
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, P.R. China.|Laboratory of Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Feng-Lei
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Chao
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, P.R. China.|Laboratory of Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, P.R. China. ytang2000@yahoo.com.|Laboratory of Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, P.R. China. ytang2000@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D002196:Capillaries / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D019422:Dietary Sucrose; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004435:Eating; D004597:Electroshock; D005081:Exercise Therapy; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D000066829:Neuroprotection; D009929:Organ Size; D011897:Random Allocation; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012420:Running / Q000502:physiology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D066127:White Matter / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D019422:Dietary Sucrose
keywords: AB_305905; capillaries; chronic unpredictable stress; depression; running exercise; stereology; white matter