Fig. 6

Behavioral parameters and hippocampal nNOS, Akt, and CREB protein expression and phosphorylation levels after 12 weeks of HFD consumption combined with 6 weeks of exercise training. Open (a) and total arm entries (b), percentage of open/total arm entries (c), and defecation (d). Exercise completely restored HFD-induced defecation, and significantly improved open arm entries and the percentage of open/total arm entries. Representative immunoblots are shown in e, and quantified data are presented as nNOS (f), pnNOS^Ser1412/GAPDH (g), pnNOS^Ser1412/nNOS (h), nNOS gene expression levels (i), pAkt^Ser473 (j), Akt (k), pCREB^Ser133 (l), and CREB (m). Exercise rescued HFD-induced excess nNOS expression levels, and improved pCREB^Ser133 levels compared with the HFD group. Open bars, SD group; light gray bars, HFD group; dark gray bars, HFD + Ex group. **P < 0.01, *P < 0.05 vs SD group, ^††P < 0.01, ^†P < 0.05 vs HFD group. n.s. non-significant. All data are presented as mean ± SE. Dot plot represents individual data points. n = 5–7 per group