Alvarez-Monell, AdamSubias-Gusils, AlexMariné-Casadó, RogerBelda, XavierGagliano, HumbertoPozo Mendoza, Óscar J., 1975-Boqué, NoemíCaimari, AntoniArmario García, AntonioSolanas, MontserratEscorihuela, Rosa M.2023-05-122023-05-122022Alvarez-Monell A, Subias-Gusils A, Mariné-Casadó R, Belda X, Gagliano H, Pozo OJ, Boqué N, Caimari A, Armario A, Solanas M, Escorihuela RM. Restricted cafeteria feeding and treadmill exercise improved body composition, metabolic profile and exploratory behavior in obese male rats. Sci Rep. 2022 Nov 15;12(1):19545. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-23464-72045-2322http://hdl.handle.net/10230/56786The aim of this study was to evaluate, in male Long-Evans rats, whether a restricted-cafeteria diet (CAFR), based on a 30% calorie restriction vs continuous ad libitum cafeteria (CAF) fed animals, administered alone or in combination with moderate treadmill exercise (12 m/min, 35 min, 5 days/week for 8 weeks), was able to ameliorate obesity and the associated risk factors induced by CAF feeding for 18 weeks and to examine the changes in circadian locomotor activity, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functionality, and stress response elicited by this dietary pattern. In addition to the expected increase in body weight and adiposity, and the development of metabolic dysregulations compatible with Metabolic Syndrome, CAF intake resulted in a sedentary profile assessed by the home-cage activity test, reduced baseline HPA axis activity through decreased corticosterone levels, and boosted exploratory behavior. Both CAFR alone and in combination with exercise reduced abdominal adiposity and hypercholesterolemia compared to CAF. Exercise increased baseline locomotor activity in the home-cage in all dietary groups, boosted exploratory behavior in STD and CAF, partially decreased anxiety-like behavior in CAF and CAFR, but did not affect HPA axis-related parameters.application/pdfeng© The Author(s) 2022. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-23464-7NeurosciencePhysiologyinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess