Michael Chen

California State University, Los Angeles | CSULA · Department of Biological Sciences

Throughout the lifespan of an animal, neurons are continuously dying, the rate of which is accelerated during aging and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, and as a result of injury, such as traumatic brain injury. There is a wealth of evidence, however, that exercise or physical activity can reverse or slow down such n...

Over the past decade, much progress has been made regarding our understanding of neurogenesis in both young and old animals and where it occurs throughout the lifespan, although the growth of new neurons declines with increasing age. In addition, physical activity can reverse this age-dependent decline in neurogenesis. Highly correlated with this d...

There is ample evidence that depression and stress can be ameliorated through the use of physical exercise and/or antidepressant drugs. Both have been shown to promote neuroprotection against atrophy of dendrites and neuronal death through the activation of pro-survival signaling pathways, such as that of phosphatidyl inositol 3' kinase (PI-3K) and...

Nitric oxide (NO), physical exercise and/or antidepressant drugs, through the increased release of norepinephrine and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), have been shown to exert profound protective, pro-survival effects on neurons otherwise compromised by injury, disease, prolonged stress, and subsequent depression in vivo. We sought, theref...

The past decade has witnessed burgeoning evidence that antidepressant medications and physical exercise increase the expression of hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). This phenomenon has gained widespread appeal, because BDNF is one of the first macromolecules observed to play a central role not only in the treatment of mood disor...

In this study, we investigated whether short-term exercise, known to promote hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression, would also enhance activity in the Porsolt forced swim test (FST), a model for assessing antidepressant efficacy. We also wished to determine whether exercise combined with antidepressants would be more effec...

Chronic stress may lead to neuronal atrophy and functional impairments within the CNS, and increasing evidence indicates that exercise can protect the brain from these changes. Bax is a key protein of the B-cell lymphoma (Bcl) family that complexes within the mitochondrial membrane and forms pores to initiate cellular apoptosis. Herein, we measured...

Much evidence has gathered that nitric oxide (NO) signaling, via cGMP-dependent mechanisms, may activate pro-survival pathways in hippocampal neurons and inhibit apoptosis. Past research has revealed that the enhancement of monoaminergic neurotransmission via exercise or treatment with antidepressant medications leads to an enhanced expression of b...

It is known that physical exercise increases hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) mRNA and protein, as well as the expression of several pro-survival signaling proteins and that many of these effects depend on the uptake of peripheral insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) into the CNS. Because treatment with antidepressants has simil...

Both antidepressant treatment and physical exercise have been shown to increase circulating levels of norepinephine (NE) and hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Increases in BDNF have been shown to be associated with enhanced dendritic arborization and neuronal survival, which forms the theoretical basis of the Neurotrophin Hypoth...

Previous studies have shown that running exercise, either alone or in combination with antidepressant treatment, results in increased hippocampal BDNF levels. Nitric oxide (NO) is an important signaling molecule that has neuronal survival-promoting properties and has been shown to play an important role in plasticity associated with activating inte...

Imidazoline-1 receptors (I1R) and 2-noradrenergic receptors (2AR) are known to coexist in many cell types and bind many of the same imidazoline ligands. Herein, the possibility of an interaction between these receptors was explored using a cloned cDNA that encodes a protein with I1R-like binding properties, designated imidazoline receptor antisera-...

Physical exercise is known to enhance psychological well-being and coping capacity. Voluntary physical exercise in rats also robustly and rapidly up-regulates hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) mRNA levels, which are potentiated following a regimen of chronic antidepressant treatment. Increased BDNF levels are associated with enha...

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a member of the structurally and functionally homologous neurotrophin family. It is the most widely distributed trophic factor in the brain, and participates in neuronal growth, maintenance, and use-dependent plasticity mechanisms such as long-term potentiation and learning. There are several lines of evi...

The antidepressants, reboxetine and citalopram, were used in conjunction with voluntary physical exercise (wheel running) in order to assess the contribution of noradrenergic and serotonergic activation to enhancements in hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression resulting from antidepressant treatment and exercise. Reboxetine...

Principal mental disorders affecting the geriatric population include dementia and depression. A lack of trophic support is thought to contribute to the pathology of these disorders. Physical activity and antidepressant treatment increase the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the young rat hippocampus. Herein, we investigate...

Active cell death, also known as apoptosis, has been implicated in the pathophysiology of diseases such as cancer, heart failure and neurodegenerative disorders. We report the anti-apoptotic function of IRAS, which was previously shown to bind imidazoline ligands. The amino acid sequence of human IRAS (hIRAS) is unrelated to known proteins, except...

Imidazoline-1 receptors (I(1)R) and alpha(2)-noradrenergic receptors (alpha(2)AR) are known to coexist in many cell types and bind many of the same imidazoline ligands. Herein, the possibility of an interaction between these receptors was explored using a cloned cDNA that encodes a protein with I(1)R-like binding properties, designated imidazoline...

A candidate human imidazoline-1 receptor, designated imidazoline receptor antisera-selected (IRAS) protein, was cloned based on immunoreactivity with antiserum against a purified imidazoline receptor binding peptide (IRBP antiserum). Human IRAS is 167 kD in size, different from 33- to 85-kD IRBP bands previously linked to the human platelet I(1) re...

Antidepressants and physical exercise have been shown to increase the transcription of hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Much evidence regarding the initial actions of antidepressant medications as well as exercise leads to the hypothesis that noradrenergic (NE) and/or serotonergic (5-HT) activation is a key element in the BDNF...

Previous studies have shown that hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) mRNA levels are significantly increased in rats allowed free access to exercise wheels and/or administered antidepressant medications. Enhancement of BDNF may be crucial for the clinical effect of antidepressant interventions. Since increased function of the norad...

The literature related to Borg's ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) scale has revealed inconsistencies about the strength of the relationship between ratings of perceived exertion and various physiological criterion measures, such as heart rate, blood lactate concentration, percent maximal oxygen uptake (%VO2max), oxygen uptake (VO2), ventilation...

The idea that parental involvement has positive influence on students' academic achievement is so intuitively appealing that society in general, and educators in particular, have considered parental involvement an important ingredient for the remedy for many problems in education. The vast proportion of the literature in this area, however, is qual...

It is erroneous to generalize the interrater reliability coefficient estimated from two or more raters rating only a (small) portion of the sample to the rest of the sample data for which only one rater is used for scoring, although such generalization is often made implicitly in practice. If the interrater reliability estimate from part of a sampl...

Variance components in the context of Generalizability Theory are useful indices for attributing the amount of variance to a particular facet or object of measurement. The mean difference effect size (MDES) has proven to be a useful tool both in synthesizing the results of multiple studies and in interpreting individual study results. A mathematica...