LOS ANGELES: Engaging in aerobic exercise over the long term may help alleviate some of the structural deterioration of the brain associated with aging.
Researchers based their findings on experiments with mice. The rodents were provided with a running wheel from 12 months old, which is similar to middle ages in humans. Their brains were examined at 18 months, which is about 60 years in humans, when the risk of Alzheimer’s increases.
Researchers found age-related changes in the expression of genes relevant to vascular function and inflammation in the brain cortex.
Both young and old mice ran about 2 miles each night, which improved the ability and motivation of the old mice to engage in the spontaneous behaviours that seem to be affected by aging. Further tests showed that the loss of pericytes, cells that surround small capillaries and venules and maintain the blood-brain barrier, were not as pronounced in the older mice that exercised, the researcher reported.
However, mice which did not have the APoE genes, a risk factor for Alzheimer’s, did not benefit from this exercise.