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Effect of Treadmill Speeds and Slopes on Voluntary Exercise in Rats¹

Department of Food Science, Department of Psychology and Bureau of Biological Research, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903

Male rats 87 days of age were given daily 90-minute sessions of voluntary exercise on self-operated treadmills pre-set to deliver speeds ranging from 6.1 to 73.2 m/minute and slopes of 0 to 27°. Voluntary motivation to operate the treadmills was induced by maintaining the rats at constant body weights of 203 ± 2 g. Under the conditions of the experiment, the rats selected 24.4 m/minute and 0° slope with running bursts averaging 21 to 24 seconds in duration as a preferred condition for greatest running. Since all activity was voluntary, the consistent patterns of running bursts at 24.4 m/minute are believed to be potentially capable of serving as reference baselines for detection of food contaminants, toxicants and other insults to normal metabolic processes.

KEY WORDS: • treadmills • voluntary exercise • spontaneous activity • dietary restriction

¹ Supported in part by NIH grant HD-08279 and contract DA-49-193-MD-2694, U.S. Army Research and Development Command.

Manuscript received 2 March 1977.