Background and purpose: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder caused by traumatic events. Various treatments, including pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy, have been investigated, but the role of exercise as a promising intervention remains underexplored. From a neurobiological perspective, PTSD is associated with dysregulation in several brain regions involved in emotion regulation, memory processing, and fear responses. This study investigates the effects of voluntary and forced exercise on behavioral responses and serum levels of IGF-1 and corticosterone in ovariectomized rats with PTSD.
Materials and methods: Fifty-six adult female Wistar rats were randomly selected and kept under normal laboratory conditions. First, the rats were divided into control and ovariectomized groups. Ovariectomy was performed under deep anesthesia. After a recovery period, the single prolonged stress (SPS) method was used to induce PTSD. Rats were subjected to voluntary exercise using a running wheel or forced exercise on a treadmill. Anxiety was measured using the elevated plus maze, and cognitive performance was assessed using the Object Recognition Memory Test. Afterward, the animals were euthanized under deep anesthesia, and serum samples were collected. Corticosterone and IGF-1 levels were measured by ELISA.
Results: In the control and ovariectomized groups, both types of exercise resulted in decreased anxiety, with a more pronounced anti-anxiety effect observed in the voluntary exercise group. Voluntary exercise significantly improved memory in both the control and ovariectomized groups. Forced exercise also enhanced memory in the ovariectomized group, albeit to a slightly lesser extent than voluntary exercise. Both types of exercise in the control and ovariectomized groups led to a significant reduction in serum corticosterone levels. Notably, this reduction was more pronounced with voluntary exercise compared to forced exercise.
Conclusion: Voluntary exercise effectively reduces anxiety, enhances cognitive function, and modulates physiological stress markers in ovariectomized rats with PTSD.