Thevoluntary and continuous physical exercisehas an effectprotective and therapeutic against Alzheimer’s, according to a CSIC study published in the next issue of the journalJournal of Alzheimers?s Disease. In particular, researchers have found that it improves neural synaptic functions, learning, memory, sensorimotor function and anxiety.
During the study, the team of researchers worked with severalGroups of 3xTg? AD transgenic mice with Alzheimer’s disease-like pathology. He separated the animals into groups according to the progress of the pathology and each group had access to the rotating wheel for a different time and in different stages of the disease. “We observed the best results in the seven-month-old mice, which were already in a moderate phase of the disease, and who had exercised for a longer time, continuously since one month of age,” explains Coral Sanfeliu, researcher at the CSIC in the Barcelona Institute for Biomedical Research and leader of the study.
Thesick mice that did not exercise presented psychological symptoms of dementia and cognitive loss, alterations in some mechanisms that influence memories and learning, as well as worse sensorimotor function. On the contrary, the mice that did exercise obtained better results in all the psychomotor tests, in those of memory and learning,less anxiety in stressful situations and better control of the response to startles.
The research team analyzed the tissue of the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus, affected by the disease, and observed that some relevant physiological indicators, such as oxidative stress in the brain, obtained better results in the animals that performed exercise, “which reveals theimportance of voluntary and moderate exercise as a neuroprotective factor“, underlined Sanfeliu.
The more exercise, the better communication
To this we must add that thanks to electrophysiological tests it has also been found that exercise protects synaptic communication between neurons. ? The results obtained suggest that physical exercise has a beneficial effect on the activity of the cerebral cortex , which translates into greater long-term memory and a greater capacity for complex learning ,? explains José María Delgado, researcher at the University of Pablo de Olavide and participant in this study. ? It has long been known that exercise facilitates the release of protective substances and that it has a beneficial effect on the feeling of well-being and on other bodily and cognitive functions. However, until now its possible beneficial effect on Alzheimer’s has not been systematically studied ,? adds Delgado.
The data obtained are not easily extrapolated to the human species, but they suggest that physical exercise, and probably intellectual exercise, may be beneficial in the medium term to delay certain characteristic symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, as well as those that accompany normal aging of patients. the population.
