Mice that model a severe form of Alzheimer’s disease tend to exhibit improved memory after exercise-induced neuron production, according to a report in Science today (September 6). Similar improvements are also possible with an exercise work-around, by giving the animals a treatment to ramp-up neurogenesis together with a dose of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).
“This paper was really exciting. . . . It is a proof of principle, in an animal model, that you can replace exercise by a bottled therapy,” says Alzheimer’s disease researcher Tara Spires-Jones of the University of Edinburgh who wrote a commentary about the paper, but was not involved in the research. However, “we’re a pretty long way from translating this study from mice into humans,” she adds.
“This [work] continues to emphasize the importance of physical exercise in sustaining the brain and fighting off brain degeneration”
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of age-related ...
