Protein In Blood Of Exercising Mice May Help To Develop New Treatment For Dementia

Dec, 2021 - By SMI

Research found a new protein behind the improved performance of cognitive tests in mice after exercising

Exercise is known to be generally beneficial to every aspect of animal and human health. However, it is still unclear how exactly the physical exercise enhances health of the brain. Now researchers at Stanford University found one anti-inflammatory protein that increases the blood with exercise. Findings of this study could help the development of novel drugs to prevent cognitive decline or neurodegenration.

The new research conducted by the scientists at Stanfod University studies how exercising fastens the release of anti-inflammatory molecules that are responsible for improvement of brain health. The team conducted blood transfusion tests in mice. The team studies two groups of mice, one was allowed to run on exercise wheel freely for a month and the second group had locked exercise wheel for the same time period. After one month, the team observed that the mice who exercised shows high volumes of hippocampal neurons compared to the mice that did not exercise. Moreover, the team kept a third group of mice physically inactive for a month and then provided them blood plasma transfusions from exercising or inactive mice.

Furthermore, it was observed that the mice who received the blood from exercising mice showed better performance in cognitive tests as compared to those who received blood from inactive mice. Further to find out the different factor in blood of exercising mice that responsible for the better performance, the scientists investigated more than 200 proteins and found one that played a major anti-inflammatory role, known as clusterin. After studying human cohort, the same protein was found to be responsible for improved memory tests in humans. However, the team indicates that studying clusterin in more detail would help to understand the mechanism behind the functioning of this protein helping further to develop novel treatments to prevent cognitive deterioration.