The effects of exercise training on [3H]-spiperone binding in rat striatum

Thirty male Sprague-Dawley rats 100 days of age were divided into three groups: interval trained, endurance trained, and pair-weighted controls. Both trained groups ran up to one hour per day, 6 days per week for 12 weeks. The interval trained group ran up to 20 repeat intervals at 54 meters per minute for 30 seconds, while the endurance trained group ran at 27 meters per minute for 60 minutes. The animals were sacrificed, and the effects of aerobic training were documented by measuring cytochrome oxidase activity in the mixed quadriceps muscles. The cytochrome oxidase activity of the interval and endurance trained groups increased 49%, and 31% respectively, above the control group. [3H]-spiperone was used to label dopamine receptors in the striatum. The endurance group was not significantly different from the interval group in [3H]-spiperone receptor binding, so the two exercise groups were combined to form one group of runners. The runners had significantly higher [3H]-spiperone receptor binding than the controls, F(1,26) = 4.87, p less than 0.05. The mean and standard error for receptor binding was 89 +/- 13 fmoles/mg protein for the runners and 60 +/- 5 fmoles/mg protein for the controls.