Table 4.

Summary of neuroanatomical changes secondary to wheel running in rodents.

Species	Sex	Duration of access to wheel	Effect on brain	Reference
Rats (spontaneously hypertensive)	Males	5–6 weeks	Wheel running increased CSF beta-endorphin	Hoffmann et al. (1990)
Rat (Sprague–Dawley)	Male	2–7 nights of running	Increased FGF2 mRNA and IR in hippocampus following 2 and 4 nights of running	Gomez-Pinilla et al. (1997)
Rat (Sprague–Dawley)	Not reported	20 days	Increased BDNF mRNA in hippocampus	Russo-Neustadt et al. (1999)
Rat (Sprague–Dawley)	Male	1–28 days unrestricted	Increased BDNF protein and mRNA (4 weeks of running was required)	Adlard et al. (2004)
Rat (Sprague–Dawley)	Male	2–90 days (continuous or alternating days)	Increased hippocampal BDNF with alternating and continuous running	Berchtold et al. (2005)
Rat (Sprague–Dawley)	Male	3–48 days	Neurogenesis in socially isolated rats (chronic wheel running was required)	Stranahan et al. (2006)
Mouse (C57BL/6J)	Male	7 days	Increased VGF mRNA and protein	Hunsberger et al. (2007)
Mouse (C57BL/6)	Male	3 weeks unrestricted	Protected against stress-induced decreases in hippocampal BDNF	Adlard and Cotman (2004)
Mouse (C57BL/6)	Not reported	2 weeks	Increased hippocampal neurogenesis which correlated with regional cerebral blood flow as measured by fMRI	Pereira et al. (2007)
Mouse (C57BL/6)	Female	12 days	Increased neurogenesis and neuronal survival in the hippocampus	van Praag et al. (1999)
Mouse (C57BL/6, beta-endorphin deficient)	Male	10 days or 39 days	Beta-endorphin was necessary for wheel-induced hippocampal cell proliferation	Koehl et al. (2008)
Mouse (C57BL/6)	Male	1, 3, or 10 days	Increased vascularization and neurogenesis in hippocampus	Van der Borght et al. (2009)
Mouse (CF1)	Not reported	4 weeks	Improved insulin receptor signaling and glucose oxidation in hippocampu	Muller et al. (2011)