Improvement of Spatial Memory Impairment Following Voluntary Exercise in Morphine-Dependent Rats: A Short Report

Exercise is one way to treat addiction. The aim of this study was to determine the improvement of spatial memory impairment following voluntary exercise in morphine-dependent rats.

In this experimental study, the sample rats received morphine (10 mg/kg) twice a day, 12 hours subcutaneously, at the same time as 10 days of running. All rats were then trained for 5 consecutive days and twice daily in the Mauritius water maze. Analysis of variance and Tukey’s test were used to analyze the data.

Comparison between groups showed that morphine-dependent and athletic control groups spent significantly more time in the target area than morphine-dependent and non-exercised control groups (respectively p=0.04 and p=0.0001) and this indicates that exercise improved spatial memory recall.

Voluntary exercise might be considered as a potential method to ameliorate some of the deleterious behavioral consequences of morphine abuse.