De Bono J P, Adlam D, Paterson D J, Channon K M
Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Level 5, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK.
Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2006 Apr;290(4):R926-34. doi: 10.1152/ajpregu.00694.2005. Epub 2005 Dec 8.
Regular physical exercise has beneficial effects in many human disease states, including cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and depression. Exercise training of genetically modified mouse models may provide insight into the molecular mechanisms that underlie the beneficial effects of exercise. Presently, there is relatively little understanding of the normal physiology of mouse exercise. In this paper, we describe a novel computerized voluntary wheel-running system capable of recording and analyzing individual wheel rotations. Using this system, we demonstrate that C57BL/6 mice run considerable distances during the night in short bouts and at a preferred speed: the cruising speed. We find that the vast majority of running occurs around this cruising speed, which is close to the maximum speed at which the animal can run but is significantly higher than the average speeds recorded by simple digital odometers. We describe how these parameters vary with exercise training and demonstrate marked sex differences in the patterns of voluntary exercise. The results of this study have important implications for the design and interpretation of both voluntary and forced exercise experiments in mouse models. The novel parameters described provide more physiological quantitative measures of voluntary exercise activity and training and will extend the physiological utility of exercise training as a phenotyping tool in genetic mouse models.
规律的体育锻炼对许多人类疾病状态都有有益影响，包括心血管疾病、癌症和抑郁症。对转基因小鼠模型进行运动训练可能有助于深入了解运动有益效果背后的分子机制。目前，人们对小鼠运动的正常生理学了解相对较少。在本文中，我们描述了一种新型的计算机化自主轮转系统，该系统能够记录和分析单个轮转情况。使用该系统，我们证明C57BL/6小鼠在夜间以短时间的爆发式且以偏好速度（巡航速度）奔跑相当长的距离。我们发现绝大多数奔跑都发生在这个巡航速度附近，该速度接近动物能够奔跑的最大速度，但明显高于简单数字里程表记录的平均速度。我们描述了这些参数如何随运动训练而变化，并展示了自主运动模式中显著的性别差异。这项研究的结果对小鼠模型中自主运动和强迫运动实验的设计与解释具有重要意义。所描述的新参数提供了更符合生理的自主运动活动和训练的定量测量方法，并将扩展运动训练作为基因小鼠模型表型分析工具的生理效用。
