Resistance Training Delays Alzheimer’s Disease; Study Revealed

Regular physical exercise, such as resistance training, can help to prevent Alzheimer’s disease or delay the onset of symptoms, and it is a simple and inexpensive therapy for Alzheimer’s patients. This is the conclusion of a paper published in Frontiers in Neuroscience by Brazilian researchers from the Federal University of S. Paulo (UNIFESP) and the University of S. Paulo (USP).

Although most Alzheimer’s patients and older individuals are unlikely to be able to do long daily runs or other high-intensity aerobic workouts, these activities are the subject of most scientific investigations on the disease. Resistance training is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the greatest way to train balance, improve posture, and reduce falls. Resistance training involves contracting specific muscles against external resistance and is seen as a vital technique for increasing muscle mass, strength, and bone density, as well as improving overall body composition, functional capacity, and balance. It also aids in the prevention or treatment of sarcopenia (muscle atrophy), making daily tasks easier to complete.

To study the neuroprotective effects of this practice, researchers from UNIFESP’s Departments of Physiology and Psychobiology, as well as the Department of Biochemistry at USP’s Institute of Chemistry (IQ-USP), used transgenic mice with a mutation that causes beta-amyloid plaque buildup in the brain. The protein builds up in the brain, inhibits synaptic connections, and destroys neurons, all of which are symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.

The mice were trained to climb a 110 cm ladder with an 80° slope and 2 cm between rungs during the study. Loads weighing 75%, 90%, and 100% of their body weight were strapped to their tails. The experiment was designed to simulate particular types of resistance training used by humans in fitness centers.

Blood samples were taken at the end of a four-week training session to test plasma levels of corticosterone, the hormone in mice equal to cortisol in humans; growing levels in reaction to stress increase the chance of developing Alzheimer’s. The hormone levels in the exercise-trained mice were normal (equivalent to those seen in the control group of animals without the mutation), and a study of their brain tissue revealed a decrease in the production of beta-amyloid plaques.

“This confirms that physical activity can reverse neuropathological alterations that cause clinical symptoms of the disease,” said Henrique Correia Campos, first author of the article.

“We also observed the animals’ behavior to assess their anxiety in the open field test [which measures avoidance of the central area of a box, the most stress-inducing area] and found that resistance exercise reduced hyperlocomotion to similar levels to the controls among mice with the phenotype associated with Alzheimer’s,” said Deidiane Elisa Ribeiro, co-first author of the article and a researcher at IQ-USP’s Neuroscience Laboratory. Agitation, restlessness and wandering are frequent early symptoms of Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia.

“Resistance exercise is increasingly proving an effective strategy to avoid the appearance of symptoms of sporadic Alzheimer’s [not directly caused by a single inherited genetic mutation], which is multifactorial and may be associated with aging, or to delay their emergence in familial Alzheimer’s. The main possible reason for this effectiveness is the anti-inflammatory action of resistance exercise,” said Beatriz Monteiro Longo, last author of the article and a professor of neurophysiology at UNIFESP.

Examine the literature
The animal model study was based on a review of the literature published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, in which the same group at UNIFESP compiled clinical evidence that resistance exercise benefits cognitive dysfunction, memory deficit, and behavioral issues in Alzheimer’s patients, concluding that it can be an affordable alternative or adjuvant therapy.

The study included researchers from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) and the Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP) in Brazil.

“Alzheimer’s doesn’t only affect the patient. The entire family is affected, especially in low-income households,” said Caroline Vieira Azevedo, first author of the review article and a graduate student at UNIFESP. “Both articles offer information that can be used to stimulate the creation of public policies. Imagine the cost savings if the appearance of symptoms in older patients is deferred by ten years.”

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