The neural mechanisms of antidepressant/anxiolytic effects by physical exercise

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25350819
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Sports science
• Research Institution: Tokyo Metropolitan University
• Principal Investigator: Kita Ichiro 首都大学東京, 人間健康科学研究科, 教授 (10186223)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): NISHIJIMA TAKESHI 首都大学東京, 人間健康科学研究科, 助教 (10431678)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 抗うつ・抗不安作用 / 行動神経科学 / 運動 / ストレス / モノアミン / 海馬神経新生 / 免疫組織化学 / 可塑性

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Accumulating evidence suggests that physical exercise can reduce the incidence and symptoms of stress-related psychiatric disorders, including depression and anxiety, through exercise-induced neuroplasticity, but the underlying neural mechanisms are not yet fully understood. In the present study, we examined how physical exercise mediates the stress-related psychiatric disorders, and considered the exercise-parameters that result in the most favorable changes in the brain plasticity. The results of this study suggested that physical exercise with mild and low stress, such as mild or voluntary exercise, could efficiently induce the antidepressant/anxiolytic effects through enhancing the activity of serotonergic neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus and the hippocampal neurogenesis, and normalizing the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which is initiated by the activation of corticotropin-releasing factor neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus.

Free Research Field

運動生理学・行動神経科学