Voluntary wheel running produces resistance to inescapable stress-induced potentiation of morphine conditioned place preference.

In rodents, exposure to acute inescapable, but not escapable, stress potentiates morphine conditioned place preference (CPP), an effect that is dependent upon hyperactivation of serotonin (5-HT) neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN). Six weeks of voluntary wheel running constrains activation of DRN 5-HT neurons during exposure to inescapable stress. Six weeks of voluntary wheel running before inescapable stress blocked stress-induced potentiation of morphine CPP. Published by Elsevier B.V.