Exercise increases brain-derived neurotrophic factor level in serum of horses

Kongoun, Sasithorn; Chanda, Metha; Piyachaturawat, Pawinee; Saengsawang, Witchuda

doi:10.1016/j.livsci.2015.08.006

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

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“…Our pilot testing revealed that serum BDNF concentrations in horses is substantially lower than for humans or rats. Kongoun et al [ 69 ] analysed serum BDNF and reported that a 12 month exercise program increased resting serum BDNF levels compared to sedentary horses. BDNF is released from neurons in an activity dependent manner and the timing of peak release differs depending on whether the activity involves stress responses or exercise, with responses to stress leading to later peaks than exercise [ 121 , 122 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Salivary cortisol is a validated measure of systemic hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis activity in horses [ 63 ] and HR can provide a proxy for sympathetic nervous system activity where peripheral adrenaline and noradrenaline concentrations increase in alignment with HR [ 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 ]. Recently, peripheral concentrations of the neurotrophin BDNF have been measured in equine serum [ 69 ]. BDNF is an abundantly expressed neurotrophin which along with activity in its receptors, facilitates learning acquisition and memory consolidation through a range of synaptic plasticity and neurogenic processes [ 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Habit Formation and the Effect of Repeated Stress Exposures on Cognitive Flexibility Learning in Horses

Henshall

Randle

Francis

et al. 2022

Animals

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Horse training exposes horses to an array of cognitive and ethological challenges. Horses are routinely required to perform behaviours that are not aligned to aspects of their ethology, which may delay learning. While horses readily form habits during training, not all of these responses are considered desirable, resulting in the horse being subject to retraining. This is a form of cognitive flexibility and is critical to the extinction of habits and the learning of new responses. It is underpinned by complex neural processes which can be impaired by chronic or repeated stress. Domestic horses may be repeatedly exposed to multiples stressors. The potential contribution of stress impairments of cognitive flexibility to apparent training failures is not well understood, however research from neuroscience can be used to understand horses’ responses to training. We trained horses to acquire habit-like responses in one of two industry-style aversive instrumental learning scenarios (moving away from the stimulus-instinctual or moving towards the stimulus-non-instinctual) and evaluated the effect of repeated stress exposures on their cognitive flexibility in a reversal task. We measured heart rate as a proxy for noradrenaline release, salivary cortisol and serum Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) to infer possible neural correlates of the learning outcomes. The instinctual task which aligned with innate equine escape responses to aversive stimuli was acquired significantly faster than the non-instinctual task during both learning phases, however contrary to expectations, the repeated stress exposure did not impair the reversal learning. We report a preliminary finding that serum BDNF and salivary cortisol concentrations in horses are positively correlated. The ethological salience of training tasks and cognitive flexibility learning can significantly affect learning in horses and trainers should adapt their practices where such tasks challenge innate equine behaviour.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%