Monroe, Derek C; Holmes, Philip V; Koch, Lauren G; Britton, Steven L; Dishman, Rodney K
description
Rats selectively bred for high- and low-capacity for running on a treadmill (HCR; LCR) also differ in wheel-running behavior, but whether wheel-running can be explained by intrinsic or adaptive brain mechanisms is not as yet understood. It is established that motivation of locomotory behavior is driven by dopaminergic transmission in mesolimbic and mesostriatal systems. However, whether voluntary wheel running is associated with enkephalinergic activity in the ventral striatum is not known.
