Exer 6m treadmill

Sixteen rats (WR-EX and REL-EX) performed regular exercise bouts throughout the 8 weeks of weight reduction and maintenance. Rats exercised on a three-lane Exer-6M Treadmill (Columbus Instruments, Columbus, OH) during the 8 weeks of weight loss and maintenance. Rats were acclimated to the treadmill by incrementally increasing the exercise intensity from 5 to 15 m/min during the first week of training and then increasing the exercise duration from 10 to 60 min during the second week. For the remainder of the study, rats performed regular exercise bouts for 1 h a day, 6 days a week, at an intensity of 15 meters/min. Throughout the study, the exercise bout was performed at approximately the same time of day (between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., in the 3 h window prior to the onset of the dark cycle).
Rats were encouraged to perform the daily exercise bouts using one or more of the following methods: (1) placing food pellets or dangling a novel play item at the head of the treadmill so it was just out of reach of the animal; (2) a short shock from an electric grid at the rear of the treadmill (10V, 0.5A, 0.75hz); (3) applying a bristle brush to the animal's feet on the rear treadmill grid; or (4) intermittent air puffs to the hind-quarters. The type and combination of motivation used varied depending on the rat's response to the different motivation techniques.

Male C57BL/6 at 19 months of age were randomized into four groups (n = 6-8/group): a sedentary or exercise group receiving either REGN1033 or control antibody. All mice were dosed via s.c. injection twice per week for 3 weeks at 10 mg/kg. During treatment, mice in the exercise group were placed on an exercise regimen involving one training session a day, consisting of 20 min on an Exer 6 M treadmill (Columbus Instruments, Columbus, OH) at 10 m/min with a 5° incline, 5 days a week for three consecutive weeks. At the end of 3 weeks of treatment, endurance was measured in all four groups using a treadmill exhaustion test. Briefly, mice ran on a treadmill at 10 m/min with a 5° incline for 4 min, and the speed was increased by 2 m/min every subsequent 4 min until 16 m/min was reached. At 30 min, the speed was increased to 18 m/min and this speed was maintained until the mice reached exhaustion. Exhaustion was defined as the inability of the mouse to remain on the treadmill despite mechanical prodding and an electrical shock stimulus.

To measure the effectiveness of colostrum serum in improving exercise ability, all-out running time was measured on a treadmill (Exer-6M treadmill, Columbus instruments, USA) and used as an index for exercise performance. For treadmill adaptation training, an exercise load of 30 min per day for three days was performed. The 30 min treadmill exercise began at a speed of 10 m/min for the first 10 min, increased to 16 m/min for the next 10 min, and increased further to 21 m/min for the last 10 min. Exhaustion was assessed following the conclusion of the experiment on day seven by making the animals run on a treadmill at a speed of 10 m/min for the first 5 min, after which time the treadmill speed was incrementally increased to 16, 18, 21, 24, 26, 29, 32, 34, and 37 m/min with 5 min intervals. The treadmill speed was then increased to 40 m/min until the animals were exhausted^{6 (link), 22 (link)}. The animals were considered to be exhausted at the point when they could no longer maintain their balance running at speed for 3 min. In order to avoid the effects of electric shock stress, we used a sponge as a tactile incentive rather than an electric shock-plate.

Mice were exercised to exhaustion on a treadmill (Columbus Instruments, Exer-6M treadmill) using a protocol adapted from Dr. Melissa J. Spencer’s lab at The University of California, Los Angeles.¹⁹ (link) The treadmill was operated at a 4°–5° decline. Mice were acclimated to the treadmill for 3 days before data collection, with 10-min-long 7–10 m/min runs every day. Mice were run to exhaustion by increasing the treadmill speed 1 m/min each minute, starting at an initial velocity of 7 m/min. Lanes have a shock plate that pulses at a frequency of ∼3 Hz. Mice were considered “exhausted” when they were unable to re-engage the treadmill for 3 s after resting on the shock plate. Run duration was recorded and used to calculate the distance run.

The muscle endurance of Sprague Dawley rats was evaluated using the treadmill test (Exer-6M Treadmill; Columbus Instruments, OH, USA). For 1 week, all rats were trained to run by running on a treadmill for 30 min at a starting speed of 2 m·min⁻¹ and ending at 20 m·min⁻¹ (2 m·min⁻¹ increase). The bottom of the treadmill was considered a low performance section and was equipped with an electrical stimulation component. Muscle endurance was determined by measuring the time spent by the rats in the low performance section of the treadmill during the 30 min test [22 (link)].
The muscle function of rats was evaluated using the grip strength test and hanging grip test. Grip strength was measured using a grip strength meter (Columbus Instruments, Columbus, OH, USA), according to a previous report [23 (link)]. The paws of rats were placed on a wire grid, and their tail was pulled backward; the maximum strength of the grip was recorded according to the strongest grip of the rat on the wire grid. Each rat was tested 6 times at 5 min intervals. The results are expressed in grams.