Kramer J M, Plowey E D, Beatty J A, Little H R, Waldrop T G
Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
Brain Res Bull. 2000 Sep 1;53(1):77-85. doi: 10.1016/s0361-9230(00)00311-7.
The hypothalamus is a well-known autonomic regulatory region of the brain involved in integrating several behaviors as well as cardiorespiratory activity. Our laboratory has shown that the caudal hypothalamus modulates the cardiorespiratory responses associated with exercise. In addition, other findings from this laboratory and others have implicated alterations in this same brain region in spontaneously hypertensive rats as contributing factors of the elevated levels of arterial pressure in hypertension. Several studies have revealed a gamma-amino-butyric acid (GABAergic) deficiency in the caudal hypothalamus of spontaneously hypertensive rats that contributes to the tonic disinhibition and overactivity of this pressor region. Because chronic exercise is able to increase cardiovascular health in the hypertensive rat, we hypothesized that exercise-induced caudal hypothalamic plasticity partially underlies the beneficial effects of physical activity. In this review we discuss initial findings from this lab that support this hypothesis. Our experiments demonstrate that chronic exercise alters gene expression and neuronal activity in the caudal hypothalamus of the spontaneously hypertensive rat. These findings describe a potential mechanism by which chronic exercise lowers blood pressure in the hypertensive individual.
下丘脑是大脑中一个著名的自主调节区域，参与整合多种行为以及心肺活动。我们实验室已经表明，下丘脑尾部调节与运动相关的心肺反应。此外，本实验室和其他实验室的其他研究结果表明，自发性高血压大鼠同一脑区的改变是高血压患者动脉血压升高的促成因素。几项研究已经揭示，自发性高血压大鼠下丘脑尾部存在γ-氨基丁酸（GABA能）缺乏，这导致了该升压区域的紧张性去抑制和过度活动。由于长期运动能够改善高血压大鼠的心血管健康，我们推测运动诱导的下丘脑尾部可塑性部分是体育活动有益作用的基础。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了本实验室支持这一假设的初步研究结果。我们的实验表明，长期运动改变了自发性高血压大鼠下丘脑尾部的基因表达和神经元活动。这些发现描述了一种潜在机制，通过该机制长期运动可降低高血压个体的血压。
