Exercise Delays Onset of Alzheimer's Disease

In elderly aerobic exercise training increases gray and white matter volume, enhances blood flow and improves memory function so the ability of systemic biomarkers measuring exercise effects on brain function related to metabolomic alterations associated with risk for Alzheimer's Disease used for further prevention, monitoring, and treatment efforts.

To address this issue, Henriette van Praag, Ph.D., from Florida Atlantic University's Schmidt College of Medicine and Brain Institute and Ozioma Okonkwo, Ph.D., Wisconsin Alzheimer's Disease Research Centre and Department of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and their collaborators, tested the hypotheses that three specific biomarkers implicated in learning and memory will increase in older adults following exercise correlated with cognition and metabolomics markers of brain health.

‘Memory biomarkers for prevention of Alzheimer's disease.’

Researchers performed a metabolomics analysis in blood samples of 23 asymptomatic late middle-aged adults, with familial and genetic risk for AD (mean age 65 years old, 50 percent female) into two groups usual physical activity (UPA) and enhanced physical activity (EPA) and blood samples for both groups were taken at baseline and after 26 weeks.

Results of the study published in the journal Frontiers in Endocrinology show that plasma CTSB levels were increased following this 26-week structured aerobic exercise training in older adults at risk for AD suggesting CTSB as a marker for cognitive changes relevant to hippocampal function after exercise in a population at risk for dementia.

This finding and the substantial modulation of lipid metabolites implicated in dementia supports the beneficial effects of exercise training on brain function and brain health in asymptomatic individuals at risk for Alzheimer's disease.



Source: Medindia