One study found that regular resistance exercise could prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease symptoms. Experiments with transgenic mice found that resistance training reduced β-amyloid plaque formation and normalized levels of corticosterone, a stress hormone associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers believe that the anti-inflammatory effects of resistance training may be a major reason for training’s effectiveness in preventing Alzheimer’s disease. The study concluded that resistance exercise could be an affordable and accessible treatment for people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Experiments with mice showed four weeks of training with enough weight to reverse the behavioral and physical changes characteristic of the disease.
Regular physical exercise, such as resistance training, can help prevent it.[{” attribute=””>Alzheimer’s disease, or at least delay the appearance of symptoms, and serves as a simple and affordable therapy for Alzheimer’s patients. This is the conclusion of an article published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience by Brazilian researchers affiliated with the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) and the University of São Paulo (USP).
Although older people and dementia patients are unlikely to be able to do long daily runs or perform other high-intensity aerobic exercises, these activities are the focus for most scientific studies on Alzheimer’s. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends resistance exercise as the best option to train balance, improve posture and prevent falls. Resistance exercise entails contraction of specific muscles against an external resistance and is considered an essential strategy to increase muscle mass, strength, and bone density, and to improve overall body composition, functional capacity, and balance. It also helps prevent or mitigate sarcopenia (muscle atrophy), making everyday tasks easier to perform.
To observe the neuroprotective effects of this practice, researchers in UNIFESP’s Departments of Physiology and Psychobiology, and the Department of Biochemistry at USP’s Institute of Chemistry (IQ-USP), conducted experiments involving transgenic mice with a mutation responsible for a buildup of beta-amyloid plaques in the brain. The protein accumulates in the central nervous system, impairs synaptic connections, and damages neurons, all of which are features of Alzheimer’s disease.
During the study, which was funded by FAPESP, the mice were trained to climb a 110 cm ladder with a slope of 80° and 2 cm between rungs. Loads were attached to their tails corresponding to 75%, 90%, and 100% of their body weight. The experiment mimicked certain kinds of resistance training undertaken by humans in fitness centers.
At the end of a four-week period of training, blood samples were taken to measure plasma levels of corticosterone, the hormone in mice equivalent to cortisol in humans; rising levels in response to stress heightens the risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Levels of the hormone were normal (equal to those found in the control group comprising animals without the mutation) in the exercise-trained mice, and analysis of their brain tissue showed a decrease in the formation of beta-amyloid plaques.
“This confirms that physical activity can reverse neuropathological alterations 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 anxiety in the open field test [which measures avoidance of the central area of a box, the most stress-inducing area] And we found that resistance exercise reduced hyperlocomotion in mice with a phenotype associated with Alzheimer’s disease to levels similar to controls,” said co-first author of the paper, IQ-USP Neuroscience. said Deidian Elisa Ribeiro, a researcher at the institute. Agitation, restlessness, and wandering are common early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia.
“Resistance exercise is increasingly proving to be an effective strategy to avoid the emergence of sporadic Alzheimer’s disease symptoms. [not directly caused by a single inherited genetic mutation]It is multifactorial, may be associated with aging, and may delay the emergence of familial Alzheimer’s disease. A major reason for this effect could be the anti-inflammatory effects of resistance exercise,” said Beatriz Monteiro Longo, the last author of the paper and Professor of Neurophysiology at UNIFESP.
Literature review
Animal model studies Literature review was announced in Frontiers of NeuroscienceThe same group at UNIFESP summarized clinical evidence that the benefits of resistance exercise included positive effects on cognitive impairment, memory impairment, and behavioral problems in people with Alzheimer’s disease, making it an affordable alternative or adjunctive therapy. concluded that he would get
Researchers from Brazil’s Federal University of Rio Grande Norte (UFRN) and Ouro Preto Federal University (UFOP) also participated in the study.
“Alzheimer’s disease doesn’t just affect patients. It affects whole families, especially low-income families,” said UNIFESP graduate student Caroline Vieira Azevedo, first author of the review paper. “Both articles provide information that can be used to facilitate the development of public policy.
Reference: “Neuroprotective effects of resistance exercise on the APP/PS1 mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease” Henrique Correia Campos, Deidiane Elisa Ribeiro, Debora Hashiguchi, Talita Glaser, Milena da Silva Milanis, Christiane Gimenes, Deborah Suchecki, Ricardo Mario Arida, Henning Ulrich and Beatriz Monteiro Longo, 6 April 2023, Frontiers of Neuroscience.
DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1132825
