The role of acute stress and exercise on astrocytes
Description
One of the risk factors of sedentary lifestyle is acute stress and it has been identified to produce a long-term effect on brain function and motivated behaviors. Yet, little is known about how stress modifies human physiology in ways that predispose individuals to chronic inactivity. Notably, young adult rats exposed to a single episode of acute stress exhibit a decrease in daily voluntary wheel running (VWR), a reduction that persists well beyond the presence of stress. The striatum, a primary brain region involved in coordinating motor control and reinforcement behaviors, received a huge impact from acute stress due to different molecular changes. Among the various cell types in the striatum, astrocytes play an important role. However, how stress induces changes on astrocyte function is understudied. In this study, we analyze single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) data from male rodent striatal tissue to assess the influence of stress and exercise. We have identified distinct gene activation profile of astrocytes in wheel running rodents compared to sedentary controls. We display that VWR is associated with upregulation of genes that are involved in brain metabolism and wound healing, and downregulation of genes involved in neuronal excitability and synaptic signaling. In addition, stressed rodents also show a distinct gene activation profile compared to non-stressed controls. With these varying gene expression profiles, our findings provide greater insight into the role of astrocytes in response to stress and exercise.
Citation Information
Zaw, Kelvin; Mohamed, Merna; and Yuan, LiLian, "The role of acute stress and exercise on astrocytes" (2026). Office of Research DMU Research Symposium. 60.
https://digitalcommons.dmu.edu/researchsymposium/2025rs/2025abstracts/60
The role of acute stress and exercise on astrocytes
One of the risk factors of sedentary lifestyle is acute stress and it has been identified to produce a long-term effect on brain function and motivated behaviors. Yet, little is known about how stress modifies human physiology in ways that predispose individuals to chronic inactivity. Notably, young adult rats exposed to a single episode of acute stress exhibit a decrease in daily voluntary wheel running (VWR), a reduction that persists well beyond the presence of stress. The striatum, a primary brain region involved in coordinating motor control and reinforcement behaviors, received a huge impact from acute stress due to different molecular changes. Among the various cell types in the striatum, astrocytes play an important role. However, how stress induces changes on astrocyte function is understudied. In this study, we analyze single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) data from male rodent striatal tissue to assess the influence of stress and exercise. We have identified distinct gene activation profile of astrocytes in wheel running rodents compared to sedentary controls. We display that VWR is associated with upregulation of genes that are involved in brain metabolism and wound healing, and downregulation of genes involved in neuronal excitability and synaptic signaling. In addition, stressed rodents also show a distinct gene activation profile compared to non-stressed controls. With these varying gene expression profiles, our findings provide greater insight into the role of astrocytes in response to stress and exercise.
