Document Type
Thesis
Degree
Master of Arts
Major
Psychology
Date of Defense
4-28-2020
Graduate Advisor
Dr. George Taylor
Committee
Dr. Michael Griffin
Dr. Suzanne Welcome
Abstract
Reward changes were observed in rodents with different exercise tendencies by utilizing the conditioned place preference paradigm. Adult male Wistar rats with distinct phenotypes (low volume runners, high volume runners, and wild-type) were given access to a running wheel or an injection of morphine as a rewarding stimulus. There was no difference observed in the strength of conditioned place preference between the rewarding stimuli. Extinction was significantly more effective in low volume runners than high volume runners and wild-type animals, as was observed in the lower percentage of time spent in their assigned conditioning chamber. These findings suggest that low volume runners have a unique underlying genotypic difference, as well as a phenotypic difference from high volume and wild-type runners. It is also suggested that running wheel access and opioid administration are comparable rewarding stimuli in rodents.
Recommended Citation
Titus, Amanda, "Different Exercise Tendencies Modulate Behavioral and Molecular Changes to Opioid or Exercise-Induced Reward" (2020). Theses. 389.
https://irl.umsl.edu/thesis/389