Ever heard of those who are "addicted to running marathons" chasing "marathons" around and punching cards? Long-distance runners often describe a "running climax" as a pleasurable pleasure and relaxation, similar to the pleasure
Researchers at the National Institute for Drug Abuse used animal model studies to uncover the underlying mechanism behind "exercise rewards" and exercise helping to reduce substance abuse: long-term exercise makes c-fos expression in the red nucleus (RN, red nucleus) more intense than in other brain regions; Motor-activated a subset of RNm glutamate neurons that project to ventral covered area (VTA) dopamine neurons; Exercise reduces cocaine self-administration and cocaine craving behavior
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Running in wildlife is a means of exploring food, water, sexual partners, or escaping risk, so physical activity is essential for survival as an intrinsic motivation
Motor activates neurons of RN and VTA
Because c-fos is a transient response to neuronal stimulation, the authors first examined the expression of c-fos after autonomous rotational movement in mice to determine which brain regions were activated
Most neurons in RNm are glutamatergic neurons
RN consists
Exercise reduces cocaine autonomy and cocaine intake
In order to verify the idea that exercise can inhibit addiction by stimulating the RNm-VTA glutamate circuit, the authors first established an addiction model with male mice, so that mice can self-manage the intake of cocaine and reach a stable state, and then let the mice independently ingest cocaine after exercise, and finally choose to rotate exercise or ingest cocaine under different conditions; The results showed that the presence of the wheel significantly reduced the mice's craving for cocaine, and the more exercise they exercised, the less they consumed, reaching an atypical withdrawal state— stopping ingestion, or taking it
Further studies have shown that stimulation of RNm glutamate neurons reduces cocaine self-administration, stimulation of RN→ VTA glutamate endings, or stimulation of VTA-DA neurons can inhibit cocaine self-administration; However, stimulation of VTA glutamate neurons, stimulation of GABA neurons in RN, and stimulation of hippocampal glutamate neurons do not alter the self-administration
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The main finding of this study is that exercise can activate subpopulations of glutamate neurons in RNm and project onto VTA-DA neurons, creating a reward effect
The neural mechanism of exercise rewards
This study used a widely used treadmill run to map motor-activated brain regions, with a particular focus on midbrain structures
Another important finding of this study is that the RNm glutamate neuron subset projects onto the VTA and forms synapses
Prolonged exercise increases the expression of c-fos in VTA-DA neurons and suggests that the expression of c-fos in DA neurons is related to
The neural mechanism of the anti-addictive effect of exercise
Exercise is good for both physical and
Studies have shown that movement strongly activates RNm glutamate neurons projected to VTA and functionally enhances the activity of DA neurons; Inhibition of the RN-VTA glutamate pathway weakens motor behavior
The exact mechanism by which exercise inhibits cocaine self-administration is not fully understood
This effect is similar to the increase in
Finally, there were significant gender differences
