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  • Clinical Techniques
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Considerations for aerobic exercise paradigms with rodent models

Lab Animal volume 45, pages 213–215 (2016)Cite this article

Rodent models of exercise are used extensively in biomedical and veterinary research. Investigators have used exercise to determine its role in various physiological outcomes such as changes to the structure and function of the brain1,2,3 as well as on cardiac4,5 and skeletal muscles6,7,8. The use of an exercise paradigm provides versatility to investigators when determining the physiological outcomes of continuous muscle action.

When designing an experiment, an investigator's first step before conducting the study is to establish the research question and hypothesis that will be answered. It is important to establish upfront the role of exercise in the research project: does the project compare and contrast two different aerobic training regimens, or does it use exercise as a stimulus to illicit a response in an outcome variable? These are not trivial questions, because they can provide the rationale for which aerobic training mode an investigator uses to answer the research question.

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Figure 1: A rodent treadmill apparatus with removable dividers to accommodate six mice or three rats.
Figure 2: A voluntary wheel running apparatus for a single mouse in a cage.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Laboratory Animal Resources, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI

    Lisa J. Brossia-Root

  2. Department of Health Care Sciences, Integrative Physiology of Exercise Laboratory, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI

    Moh H. Malek

Authors
  1. Lisa J. Brossia-Root
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  2. Leanne C. Alworth
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  3. Moh H. Malek
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Correspondence to Moh H. Malek.

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Brossia-Root, L., Alworth, L. & Malek, M. Considerations for aerobic exercise paradigms with rodent models. Lab Anim 45, 213–215 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban.1023

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