Exercise Activates Brain-Protective Cells
Study identifies mechanisms for how physical activity may prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
New research reveals why exercise protects brain health. It activates specific brain cells in the hippocampus, the brain’s center for memory and learning. Scientists from Mass General Brigham and SUNY Upstate Medical University used advanced techniques to identify the brain cell types most responsive to exercise, in a study published in Nature Neuroscience. While this was done with a mice model, the findings were validated in human tissue samples.
“While we’ve long known that exercise helps protect the brain, we didn’t fully understand which cells were responsible or how it worked at a molecular level,” says principal investigator and study author Christiane D. Wrann, PhD, assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and scientist at Mass General Brigham Heart and Vascular Institute. “Now we have a detailed map of how exercise impacts each major cell type in the memory center of the brain in Alzheimer’s disease.”
References
https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/about/newsroom/press-releases/research-identifies-physical-activity-protects-brain-alzheimers-disease
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA, is an internationally acknowledged integrative health and mindfulness specialist, best-selling author of 16 fitness and wellness books translated into multiple languages and sold worldwide, award-winning health journalist, contributing editor to Fitness Journal, media spokesperson, and IDEA's 2008 Fitness Instructor of the Year. She's a 25-year industry veteran and former health and fitness educator at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, who has served on multiple industry committees and co-authored trade books and manuals for ACE, ACSM and YMCA of the USA. She has appeared on TV worldwide and was a featured trainer on America's Next Top Model.
