Scientists have made a discovery that is helping to explain why exercise can help stave off Alzheimer’s disease.
The University of California – San Francisco says its study found that an exercise-induced liver protein strengthened the “blood-brain barrier”.
This improved memory and slowed age-related decline.
“With age, this network of blood vessels – called the blood-brain barrier – gets leaky, letting harmful compounds enter the brain,” UCSF said in a statement.
“This causes inflammation, which is associated with cognitive decline and is seen in conditions like Alzheimer’s disease.”
The study team discovered a brain-rejuvenating enzyme called GPLD1 six years ago that mice produced in their livers when they exercised.
At the time they could not understand how it worked on the brain.
“The new study reveals that GPLD1 works through another protein called TNAP,” UCSF said.
“As the mice age, the cells that form the blood-brain barrier accumulate TNAP, which makes it leaky. But when mice exercise, their livers produce GPLD1. It travels to the vessels that surround the brain and trims TNAP off the cells.”
Associate Director of the UCSF Bakar Aging Research Institute, Saul Villeda, said the new research was uncovering biology that Alzheimer’s research had largely overlooked.
“It may open new therapeutic possibilities beyond the traditional strategies that focus almost exclusively on the brain,” he said.
The full report is here.
