From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2012-03-24 16:17:31 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: new abstract (of study that makes no sense to those who know ferrets)
To: fhl <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>, FML List <ferret-l@LISTSERV.FERRETMAILINGLIST.ORG>
Addendum:
Now that I am past my spate of strong annoyance and re-read the abstract I notice that it reads better than the blog and press takes on the write-up for two reasons:
1. because the abstract at least referr to domestic ferrets as "non-cursorial"
and
2. because the abstract points out that the hypothesis is to see if the endocannabinoid levels change in animals made for that type of exercise but fail to change in those not made for that form of exercise.
So, I exercised some partly misplaced annoyance and my strong apologies on that regard, but multiple websites are expressing the same inaccuracy about ferrets, so either they are working from each other or there is something in the article itself or perhaps in a university press release about the article which is leading to that same potentially dangerous inaccuracy being repeatedly used.
I'd like to have seen a study that also looked at those humans and animals with more of a mix of red and white muscles types, and those who have high levels of white muscle engaging in exercises more attuned to their physiologies who then were tested. Doing exercises geared to one's body type is rewarding, but it may be that the biochemical rewards differ or can be triggered in multiple ways, and it could have steered some away from concluding that the only route to being active is the red muscle one.
Yes, I realize that the idea that others might use what was written to spread potentially hazardous misinformation about ferrets was probably far from anyone's mind. Still, it has happened and the risks to ferrets include missing some serious diseases in ferrets which often first present with inactivity (insulinoma, cardiomyopathy, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, etc), and to animal abuse with ferrets being treated by the ignorant as if they should be cage-bound.
> J Exp Biol. 2012 Apr 15;215(Pt 8):1331-1336.
>
> Wired to run: exercise-induced endocannabinoid signaling in humans and cursorial
> mammals with implications for the 'runner's high'
>
> Raichlen DA, Foster AD, Gerdeman GL, Seillier A, Giuffrida A.
>
> School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
>
> Humans report a wide range of neurobiological rewards following moderate and
> intense aerobic activity, popularly referred to as the 'runner's high', which may
> function to encourage habitual aerobic exercise. Endocannabinoids (eCBs) are
> endogenous neurotransmitters that appear to play a major role in generating these
> rewards by activating cannabinoid receptors in brain reward regions during and
> after exercise. Other species also regularly engage in endurance exercise
> (cursorial mammals), and as humans share many morphological traits with these
> taxa, it is possible that exercise-induced eCB signaling motivates habitual
> high-intensity locomotor behaviors in cursorial mammals. If true, then
> neurobiological rewards may explain variation in habitual locomotor activity and
> performance across mammals. We measured circulating eCBs in humans, dogs (a
> cursorial mammal) and ferrets (a non-cursorial mammal) before and after treadmill
> exercise to test the hypothesis that neurobiological rewards are linked to
> high-intensity exercise in cursorial mammals. We show that humans and dogs share
> significantly increased exercise-induced eCB signaling following high-intensity
> endurance running. eCB signaling does not significantly increase following
> low-intensity walking in these taxa, and eCB signaling does not significantly
> increase in the non-cursorial ferrets following exercise at any intensity. This
> study provides the first evidence that inter-specific variation in
> neurotransmitter signaling may explain differences in locomotor behavior among
> mammals. Thus, a neurobiological reward for endurance exercise may explain why
> humans and other cursorial mammals habitually engage in aerobic exercise despite
> the higher associated energy costs and injury risks, and why non-cursorial
> mammals avoid such locomotor behaviors.
>
> PMID: 22442371 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html
"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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