A new study suggests that exercise can help preserve brain health and slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
A group of scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School in Boston led by Dr. Bruce Spiegelman initiated the study to test if exercise can also be used to help cognitive-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Both have no surefire treatment yet so researchers are looking for means to prevent it or stop its progression.
The scientists discovered FNDC5, a protein normally produced released by the body in the bloodstream when it does muscle exertion. It is also known as a “human exercise gene” as it is usually naturally released by the body after working out. They found that once the body produces high levels of FNDC5, it jumpstarts the production of another protein linked to brain health called BDNF. The brain protein is released by the part of the brain responsible on learning and memory.
In a laboratory test, the scientists put the mice on an exercise wheel for 30 days to let its body produce enough FNDC5 to jumpstart the brain protein. After the exercise, they shared its protein to non-exercising mice in which they have observed improvement on learning and memory of the mice as well as changes on its genes which heightened the production of new brain nerves.
They also artificially increased the protein without exercise but still received the same positive results.
Spiegelman believes that their initial findings can help in the development of a drug treatment containing the protein which can possibly preserve brain health and slow the progression of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. However, he admitted that further research is needed to establish if FNDC5 can indeed improve brain functions.
The study was published in the online journal Cell Metabolism and had the National Institutes of Health as one of its financier.
