Summary: Regular physical activity, especially weight training, can delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
Using a mouse model, the team was able to demonstrate a reduction in Alzheimer’s indicators such as amyloid beta plaques and normalized stress hormone levels after strength training. Strength training not only provides physical benefits, but also appears to reduce behavioral problems associated with Alzheimer’s.
The study advocates the introduction of strength training as an affordable therapy for Alzheimer’s patients.
Important facts:
Researchers found that strength training can delay the onset of Alzheimer’s symptoms and is a cost-effective treatment option.
The study showed that resistance training in transgenic mouse models reduced the formation of amyloid beta plaques, a key feature of Alzheimer’s disease.
Resistance training also helped alleviate behavioral problems commonly associated with Alzheimer’s, such as hyperlocomotion, thereby improving the subjects’ overall well-being.
Source: FAPESP
Regular physical activity, such as weight training, can prevent Alzheimer’s disease or at least delay the onset of symptoms and serves as a simple and inexpensive therapy for Alzheimer’s patients.
This is the conclusion of an article published in frontiers of neuroscience by Brazilian researchers from the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) and the University of São Paulo (USP).
Although older people and those with dementia may not be able to do long runs or other high-intensity aerobic exercise every day, these activities are the focus of most scientific studies on Alzheimer’s.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends resistance training as the best option to train balance, improve posture and prevent falls.
Resistance training involves the contraction of specific muscles against an external resistance and is considered an essential strategy for increasing muscle mass, strength and bone density, as well as improving overall body composition, functioning and balance.
It also helps prevent or relieve sarcopenia (muscle wasting), making it easier to perform everyday tasks.
To observe the neuroprotective effects of this practice, researchers from UNIFESP’s Departments of Physiology and Psychobiology and the Department of Biochemistry at the USP Institute of Chemistry (IQ-USP) conducted experiments using transgenic mice carrying a mutation responsible for the accumulation of beta -Amyloid is responsible for plaques in the brain.
The protein accumulates in the central nervous system, impairing synaptic connections and damaging neurons, all hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease.
During the FAPESP-funded study, mice were trained to climb a 110-cm ladder with an 80° incline and 2 cm between rungs. Loads were attached to their tails equal to 75%, 90%, and 100% of their body weight. The experiment mimicked certain types of strength training performed by people in fitness centers.
At the end of a four-week training period, blood samples were taken to measure plasma levels of corticosterone, the hormone in mice that corresponds to cortisol in humans; Rising levels in response to stress increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s.
The hormone levels in the trained mice were normal (same as the control group, made up of animals without the mutation), and analysis of their brain tissue showed a reduction in the formation of amyloid beta plaques.
“This confirms that physical activity can reverse neuropathological changes that cause clinical symptoms of the disease,” said Henrique Correia Campos, first author of the article.
“We also observed the animals’ behavior to assess their fear in the field test [ which measures avoidance of the central area of a box, the most stress-inducing area ] and found that resistance training reduced hyperlocomotion in mice with the Alzheimer’s-associated phenotype to levels similar to those in control mice,” said Deidiane Elisa Ribeiro, co-first author of the article and a researcher at IQ-USP’s Neuroscience Laboratory.
Restlessness, restlessness and wandering are common early symptoms of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.
“Resistance training is emerging as an effective strategy to prevent the onset of symptoms associated with sporadic Alzheimer’s disease [ not directly caused by a single inherited genetic mutation ]which is multifactorial and may be associated with aging or delay its onset in familial Alzheimer’s disease.
“The possible main reason for this effectiveness is the anti-inflammatory effect of resistance exercise,” said Beatriz Monteiro Longo, the last author of the article and a professor of neurophysiology at UNIFESP.
review of the literature
The animal model study was based on a review of the literature published in frontiers of neuroscience where the same group at UNIFESP compiled clinical evidence that the benefits of resistance exercise include beneficial effects on cognitive dysfunction, memory deficits and behavioral problems in Alzheimer’s patients and concluded that it may be an affordable alternative or adjuvant therapy.
Researchers from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) and the Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP) in Brazil also participated in the study.
“Alzheimer’s doesn’t just affect the patient. The whole family is affected, particularly in low-income households,” said Caroline Vieira Azevedo, first author of the review article and a PhD student at UNIFESP.
“Both articles provide information that can be used to inform the design of public policy. Imagine the cost savings of delaying the onset of symptoms in older patients by 10 years.”
About this exercise and news from Alzheimer’s research
Abstract
Neuroprotective effects of resistance exercise on the APP/PS1 mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease
Introduction: Physical exercise has beneficial effects by eliciting neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory responses to AD. However, most studies have been conducted with aerobic exercise, and few have examined the effects of other modalities that also show positive effects on AD, such as resistance exercise (RE).
In addition to its benefits in developing muscle strength, balance, and muscular endurance that favor an improvement in the quality of life in the elderly, RE reduces amyloid burden and local inflammation, promotes memory and cognitive improvements, and protects the cortex and hippocampus from the degeneration that occurs in the brain Advertising. Similar to AD patients, APPswe/PS1dE9 (APP/PS1) double transgenic mice exhibit Αβ plaques in the cortex and hippocampus, hyperlocomotion, memory deficits, and an increased inflammatory response.
Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of 4-week intermittent RE training on the prevention and recovery of these AD-related neuropathological diseases in APP/PS1 mice.
Methods: For this purpose, 6-7 month old male APP/PS1 transgenic mice and their littermates lacking mutations (CTRL) were divided into three groups: CTRL, APP/PS1, APP/PS1+RE. The RE training lasted four weeks and at the end of the program the animals were tested in the field test for locomotor activity and in the object recognition test to assess recognition memory. Brains were collected for immunohistochemical analysis of Aβ plaques and microglia, and blood was collected for plasma corticosterone by ELISA assay.
Results: Resident mice transgenic with APP/PS1 showed increased Aβ plaques in the hippocampus and higher plasma corticosterone levels, as well as hyperlocomotion and reduced central crossings in the field test compared to APP/PS1-trained animals and controls. The intermittent RE program was able to restore the behavioral, corticosterone and Aβ changes in CTRL levels. In addition, the RE protocol increased the number of microglial cells in the hippocampus of APP/PS1 mice. Despite these changes, no memory impairment was observed in APP/PS1 mice in the novel object recognition test.