Exercise Exercise helps to flush a toxic molecule from the brain and causes a beneficial one to move in and protect nerve cells, research on mice shows.
"Our experiments support the idea that exercise is a good approach to all types of problems in the brain and that a sedentary lifestyle is a risk factor," says Ignacio Torres-Aleman, who led the study at the Cajal Institute in Madrid. They found that exercise doubled the levels of a protein that helps to flush molecules thought to underlie Alzheimer's disease out of the mice's brains and into their blood.
The protein, called megalin, ejects a potentially destructive protein called amyloid-beta. Megalin also binds to a beneficial molecule in the blood, called insulin-like growth factor, and transports it to the brain.
The findings appear in the Journal of Neuroscience1.
Paul Adlard, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Irvine, has looked at the brains of mice in a different model of Alzheimer's disease. His data, although only preliminary, suggest that exercise does not boost levels of the protective insulin-like growth factor. Adlard says that the findings of Torres-Aleman and his colleagues are "tantalizing", but that more study is needed. The findings, he says, open the door to developing drugs that could boost levels of the megalin shuttle and help keep the brain healthy.
Mattson notes that the link between exercise and brain health is still not certain in humans, although the evidence is mounting up. Other research has found that staying mentally agile or even maintaining a slim physique may help to protect against Alzheimer's and other brain disorders.
"Our experiments support the idea that exercise is a good approach to all types of problems in the brain and that a sedentary lifestyle is a risk factor," says Ignacio Torres-Aleman, who led the study at the Cajal Institute in Madrid. They found that exercise doubled the levels of a protein that helps to flush molecules thought to underlie Alzheimer's disease out of the mice's brains and into their blood.
The protein, called megalin, ejects a potentially destructive protein called amyloid-beta. Megalin also binds to a beneficial molecule in the blood, called insulin-like growth factor, and transports it to the brain.
The findings appear in the Journal of Neuroscience1.
Paul Adlard, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Irvine, has looked at the brains of mice in a different model of Alzheimer's disease. His data, although only preliminary, suggest that exercise does not boost levels of the protective insulin-like growth factor. Adlard says that the findings of Torres-Aleman and his colleagues are "tantalizing", but that more study is needed. The findings, he says, open the door to developing drugs that could boost levels of the megalin shuttle and help keep the brain healthy.
Mattson notes that the link between exercise and brain health is still not certain in humans, although the evidence is mounting up. Other research has found that staying mentally agile or even maintaining a slim physique may help to protect against Alzheimer's and other brain disorders.
posted by Valery Yermalitsky at
8:08 AM
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