Cover Picture : “Runner's high” terms a euphoric state resulting from long distance running. The cerebral neurochemical correlates of exercise-induced mood changes have been barely investigated so far. A positron emission tomography (PET) “ligand activation” study with the nonselective opioidergic ligand 6-0-(2-[18F]fluoroethyl)-6-0-desmethyldiprenorphine [(18)F]FDPN has been able to unravel central opioidergic mechanisms of exercise induced mood changes in the human brain and to identify the relationship of endorphinergic activation to perceived euphoria. This work supports the “endorphinhypothesis of the runner's high” by evidencing region-specific endorphinergic activation in frontolimbic brain areas that are involved in the processing of affective states and mood. The cover picture illustrates a look into the brain of runners, as provided by [(18)F]FDPN PET. See Boecker et al. pp. 2523--2531.
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