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Running exercise protects the capillaries in white matter in a rat model of depression
Author(s) -
Chen LinMu,
Zhang AiPin,
Wang FeiFei,
Tan ChuanXue,
Gao Yuan,
Huang ChunXia,
Zhang Yi,
Jiang Lin,
Zhou ChunNi,
Chao FengLei,
Zhang Lei,
Tang Yong
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of comparative neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 209
eISSN - 1096-9861
pISSN - 0021-9967
DOI - 10.1002/cne.24017
Subject(s) - biology , depression (economics) , white matter , neuroscience , magnetic resonance imaging , medicine , macroeconomics , economics , radiology
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.