A UC San Francisco study has found that when elderly people stay active, their brains have more of a class of proteins that enhances the connections between neurons.
The protective impact was found in people whose brains were found to be toxic from Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases.
"Our work is the first that uses human data to show that synaptic protein regulation is related to physical activity and may drive the beneficial cognitive outcomes we see," said Kaitlin Casaletto, PhD, an assistant professor of neurology and lead author on the study, which appears in the January 7
The benefits of physical activity on cognitive function have been shown in mice, but have been harder to show in people.
Casaletto, a member of the Institute for Neurosciences, worked with William Honer, MD, a professor of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia and senior author of the study, to leverage data from the Memory and Aging Project at Rush University in Chicago. The project tracked the late-life physical activity of elderly participants who also agreed to donate their brains when they died.
Casaletto said that maintaining the integrity of the connections between the neurons may be important to fending off dementia. Physical activity may help boost this synaptic functioning.
Better Nerve Signals are caused by moreProteins.
Honer and Casaletto found that elderly people who remained active had higher levels of the same proteins that facilitate the exchange of information. Honer found that people who had more of these proteins in their brains when they died were better able to maintain their cognitive abilities.
Honer said the researchers found that the effects ranged beyond the hippocampus, the brain's seat of memory, to encompass other brain regions associated with cognitive function.
Honer said that it may be that physical activity exerts a global sustaining effect, supporting and stimulating healthy function of proteins that facilitate synaptic transmission throughout the brain.
Brains are showing signs of dementia.
Alzheimer's disease pathology is caused by the build up of amyloid and tau in the brains of older adults. Many scientists believe that amyloid and tau accumulate first and cause the fall apart of the brain.
Casaletto found that synaptic integrity, whether measured in the brain tissue of autopsied adults or the spinal fluid of living adults, appeared to affect the relationship between amyloid and tau.
The cascade of brain damage that leads to Alzheimer's disease appears to be mitigated in older adults with higher levels of the proteins associated with synaptic integrity. Two studies show the importance of maintaining synaptic health to support the brain against Alzheimer's disease.
The story was told
The materials were provided by the University of California. Robin Marks wrote the original. Content can be edited for style and length.
