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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 91/5/897    most recent expphysiol.2006.034439v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Kasimay, O. Articles by Yegen, B. C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Kasimay, O. Articles by Yegen, B. C. Related Collections Human, Environmental & Exercise

Özgür Kasmay¹, Esra Güzel¹, Ali Gemici¹, Asead Abdyli¹, Admir Sulovari¹, Feriha Ercan² and Berrak Ç. Yeen¹

Departments of ¹ Physiology² Histology and Embryology, School of Medicine, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkiye

Epidemiological studies have shown that exercise protects the gastrointestinal tract, reducing the risk of diverticulosis, gastrointestinal haemorrhage and inflammatory bowel disease, while many digestive complaints occurring during exercise are attributed to the adverse effects of exercise on the colon. In order to assess the effects of regular exercise on the pathogenesis of colitis, Sprague–Dawley rats of both sexes were either kept sedentary or given exercise on a running wheel (0.4 km h^–1, 30 min for 3 days week^–1). At the end of 6 weeks, under anaesthesia, either saline or acetic acid (4%, 1 ml) was given intracolonically. Holeboard tests were performed for the evaluation of anxiety at 24 h before and 48 h after induction of colitis. Increased ‘freezing time’ in the colitis-induced sedentary group, representing increased anxiety, was reduced in the exercised colitis group (P < 0.05). On the third day following the colonic instillation, the rats were decapitated under brief ether anesthesia and the distal 8 cm of the colons were removed. In the sedentary colitis group, macroscopic and microscopic damage scores, malondialdehyde level and myeloperoxidase activity were increased when compared to the control group (P < 0.01–0.001), while exercise prior to colitis reduced all the measurements with respect to sedentary colitis group (P < 0.05–0.001). The results demonstrate that low-intensity, repetitive exercise protects against oxidative colonic injury, and that this appears to involve the anxiolytic effect of exercise, suggesting that exercise may have a therapeutic value in reducing stress-related exacerbation of colitis.

(Received 12 May 2006; accepted after revision 6 June 2006; first published online 8 June 2006)
Corresponding author B. Ç. Yeen: Marmara University, School of Medicine, Haydarpaa, Istanbul 34668, Türkiye. Email: byegen{at}marmara.edu.tr