| 1. |
- Kaiser, Antonia, et al.
(författare)
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A Randomized Controlled Trial on the Effects of a 12-Week High- vs. Low-Intensity Exercise Intervention on Hippocampal Structure and Function in Healthy, Young Adults
- 2022
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Psychiatry. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1664-0640. ; 12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Physical exercise affects hippocampal structure and function, but the underlying neural mechanisms and the effects of exercise intensity remain incompletely understood. Therefore, we undertook a comprehensive, multi-modal 3T and 7T MRI randomized controlled trial (Netherlands Trial Register - NL5847) in which we randomized 52 young, non-athletic volunteers to a 12-week low- or high-intensity exercise program. Using state-of-the-art methods, we investigated changes in hippocampal volume, as well as changes in vasculature, neuro-metabolites, and peripheral growth factors as potential underpinnings. Cardiorespiratory fitness improved over time (p < 0.001), but no interaction with exercise intensity was found (p = 0.48). Accordingly, we did not observe significant interactions between exercise condition and time on MRI measures (all p > 0.06). However, we found a significant decrease in right hippocampal volume (p < 0.01), an increase in left hippocampal glutathione (p < 0.01), and a decrease of left hippocampal cerebral blood volume (p = 0.01) over time, regardless of exercise condition. Additional exploratory analyses showed that changes in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (p = 0.01), insulin-like growth-factor (p = 0.03), and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex N-acetyl-aspartate levels (p = 0.01) were positively associated with cardiorespiratory fitness changes. Furthermore, a trend toward a positive association of fitness and gray-matter cerebral blood flow (p = 0.06) was found. Our results do not provide evidence for differential effects between high-intensity (aerobic) and low-intensity (toning) exercise on hippocampal structure and function in young adults. However, we show small but significant effects of exercise on hippocampal volume, neurometabolism and vasculature across exercise conditions. Moreover, our exploratory results suggest that exercise might not specifically only benefit hippocampal structure and function, but rather has a more widespread effect. These findings suggest that, in agreement with previous MRI studies demonstrating moderate to strong effects in elderly and diseased populations, but none to only mild effects in young healthy cohorts, the benefits of exercise on the studied brain measures may be age-dependent and restorative rather than stimulatory. Our study highlights the importance of a multi-modal, whole-brain approach to assess macroscopic and microscopic changes underlying exercise-induced brain changes, to better understand the role of exercise as a potential non-pharmacological intervention.
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| 2. |
- Kuhn, Hans-Georg, 1961, et al.
(författare)
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Changes in neurogenesis in dementia and Alzheimer mouse models: are they functionally relevant?
- 2007
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Ingår i: European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0940-1334 .- 1433-8491. ; 257:5, s. 281-9
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Alzheimer's disease and related dementias are devastating disorders that lead to the progressive decline of cognitive functions. Characteristic features are severe brain atrophy, paralleled by accumulation of beta amyloid and neurofibrillary tangles. With the discovery of neurogenesis in the adult brain, the hopes have risen that these neurodegenerative conditions could be overcome, or at least ameliorated, by the generation of new neurons. The location of the adult neurogenic zones in the hippocampus and the lateral ventricle wall, close to corpus callosum and neocortex, indicates strategic positions for potential repair processes. However, we also need to consider that the generation of new neurons is possibly involved in cognitive functions and could, therefore, be influenced by disease pathology. Moreover, aberrant neurogenic mechanisms could even be a part of the pathological events of neurodegenerative diseases. It is the scope of this review to summarize and analyze the recent data from neurogenesis research with respect to Alzheimer's disease and its animal models.
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| 3. |
- Wirths, Oliver, et al.
(författare)
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Pyroglutamate Abeta pathology in APP/PS1KI mice, sporadic and familial Alzheimer's disease cases
- 2010
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Ingår i: Journal of neural transmission. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0300-9564 .- 1435-1463. ; 117:1, s. 85-96
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The presence of Abeta(pE3) (N-terminal truncated Abeta starting with pyroglutamate) in Alzheimer's disease (AD) has received considerable attention since the discovery that this peptide represents a dominant fraction of Abeta peptides in senile plaques of AD brains. This was later confirmed by other reports investigating AD and Down's syndrome postmortem brain tissue. Importantly, Abeta(pE3) has a higher aggregation propensity, and stability, and shows an increased toxicity compared to full-length Abeta. We have recently shown that intraneuronal accumulation of Abeta(pE3) peptides induces a severe neuron loss and an associated neurological phenotype in the TBA2 mouse model for AD. Given the increasing interest in Abeta(pE3), we have generated two novel monoclonal antibodies which were characterized as highly specific for Abeta(pE3) peptides and herein used to analyze plaque deposition in APP/PS1KI mice, an AD model with severe neuron loss and learning deficits. This was compared with the plaque pattern present in brain tissue from sporadic and familial AD cases. Abundant plaques positive for Abeta(pE3) were present in patients with sporadic AD and familial AD including those carrying mutations in APP (arctic and Swedish) and PS1. Interestingly, in APP/PS1KI mice we observed a continuous increase in Abeta(pE3) plaque load with increasing age, while the density for Abeta(1-x ) plaques declined with aging. We therefore assume that, in particular, the peptides starting with position 1 of Abeta are N-truncated as disease progresses, and that, Abeta(pE3) positive plaques are resistant to age-dependent degradation likely due to their high stability and propensity to aggregate.
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