Treadmill Exercise Testing
Objective: To determine changes in striatal dopamine and motor performance in MPTP-lesioned mice following intensive treadmill exercise intervention
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Protocol Steps
Animal grouping and MPTP lesioning
C57BL/6J mice were divided into four experimental groups: saline control, saline plus exercise, MPTP lesioned, and MPTP plus exercise
Note: MPTP administration creates a model of basal ganglia injury similar to Parkinson's disease
View evidence from paper
“C57BL/6J mice were divided into four groups: (1) saline, (2) saline plus exercise, (3) MPTP, and (4) MPTP plus exercise”
Exercise intervention initiation
Treadmill exercise was started 5 days after MPTP lesioning
Note: Exercise was initiated after a 5-day recovery period following MPTP injection
View evidence from paper
“Exercise was started 5 d after MPTP lesioning”
Treadmill exercise protocol
Intensive treadmill exercise was conducted on the exercise groups
Note: Exercise continued for 28 days total. Specific parameters such as speed, incline, and daily duration are not specified in the text
View evidence from paper
“Exercise was started 5 d after MPTP lesioning and continued for 28 d”
Motor velocity assessment
Treadmill running was used to measure motor velocity in both exercise groups
Note: Treadmill running improved motor velocity in both saline plus exercise and MPTP plus exercise groups
View evidence from paper
“Treadmill running improved motor velocity in both exercise groups”
Rotarod balance and motor performance testing
Accelerating rotarod was used to measure latency to fall as an indicator of balance and motor performance
Note: All exercised animals showed increased latency to fall compared to nonexercised mice
View evidence from paper
“All exercised animals also showed increased latency to fall (improved balance) using the accelerating rotarod compared with nonexercised mice”
Striatal dopamine tissue level measurement
HPLC analysis was performed to measure dopamine tissue levels in the striatum
Note: No difference was found in striatal dopamine tissue levels between MPTP plus exercise and MPTP groups, but an increase was detected in saline plus exercise mice
View evidence from paper
“Using HPLC, we found no difference in striatal dopamine tissue levels between MPTP plus exercise compared with MPTP mice”
Dopamine release and kinetics analysis
Fast-scan cyclic voltammetry was used to measure stimulus-evoked dopamine release and decay kinetics in the dorsal striatum
Note: Increased stimulus-evoked release and decreased decay of dopamine were found in MPTP plus exercise mice only
View evidence from paper
“Analyses using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry showed increased stimulus-evoked release and a decrease in decay of dopamine in the dorsal striatum of MPTP plus exercise mice only”
Immunohistochemical protein analysis
Immunohistochemical staining was performed to analyze striatal tyrosine hydroxylase and dopamine transporter protein expression
Note: Decreased expression of both proteins was found in MPTP plus exercise mice compared with MPTP mice
View evidence from paper
“Immunohistochemical staining analysis of striatal tyrosine hydroxylase and dopamine transporter proteins showed decreased expression in MPTP plus exercise mice compared with MPTP mice”
mRNA transcript expression analysis
In situ hybridization was used to measure mRNA transcript expression in midbrain dopaminergic neurons
Note: No differences in mRNA transcript expression were found between MPTP plus exercise and MPTP groups, but diminished expression was found in saline plus exercise compared with saline mice
View evidence from paper
“There were no differences in mRNA transcript expression in midbrain dopaminergic neurons between these two groups. However, there was diminished transcript expression in saline plus exercise compared with saline mice”