Studies have found that certain neurons in mice become more activated after multiple exercise sessions.Credit: Dr. Gopal Murti/Science Photo Library
exercise It activates your muscles, but it may also activate your neurons. According to research published today, neuron1Repeated exercise sessions on a treadmill strengthen the wiring in the mice’s brains, causing certain neurons to activate faster. This “rewiring” was essential to gradually improving the performance of the mice studied. running endurance.
The study reveals that the mouse and possibly human brains are actively involved in the development of endurance, the ability to improve physical activity through repeated practice, said study co-author Nicholas Betry, a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
“When you run, your lungs expand, your heart beats better, and your muscles break down and rebuild. All of these great things happen and you feel better next time,” Betley says. “I didn’t think the brain was coordinating all of that.”
brain training
Betley and his colleagues were interested in what happens in the brain as people get stronger through exercise.
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They decided to focus on the ventromedial hypothalamus, a brain region that regulates appetite and blood sugar levels. The researchers then focused on a group of neurons in the area that produce a protein called steroidogenic factor 1 (SF1), which is known to be involved in regulating metabolism.2. previous research3 They discovered that deletion of the gene encoding SF1 impairs endurance in mice.
Betley’s team looked at the activity of SF1 neurons in mice running on treadmills and found that these cells were actually activated by exercise. Interestingly, one group of SF1 neurons was activated only after the exercise session ended. After several training sessions, the number of neurons activated after a run and the magnitude of their activation increased.
When the researchers examined brain slices from mice that had been trained consistently over three weeks, they found changes in the electrical properties of SF1 neurons compared to mice that had not been trained repeatedly. These changes indicate that neurons in the trained mice were more likely to be activated. They also found that repeated exercise doubled the number of synapses (connections between neurons) that were “excitable,” or ready to emit electrical signals.