title: Three weeks of running wheel exposure improves cognitive performance in the aged Tg2576 mouse.
abstract: If begun early in life, exercise effectively reduces the development of cognitive deficits in transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the effectiveness of exercise, once the cognitive impairments are established, is not as clear. In terms of translating research in animal models to treatments involving exercise in Alzheimer's disease patients, it is critical to evaluate exercise intervention at time points that address not only prevention, but also treatment of cognitive decline. We provided exercise wheels to Tg2576 (TG) (n=12) and C57BL6 (WT) (n=17) mice at 16-18 months of age for three weeks. At this age animals have significant cognitive impairment and neuropathology consistent with AD. Age matched sedentary TG (n=13) and WT (n=12) mice were also included, as well as groups provided access to an immobile wheel (TG n=9, WT n=12). After three weeks, animals were evaluated in a radial arm water maze. Significant impairments were observed in the sedentary TG mice compared to WT in reference/long-term and working/short-term memory, as well as in probe trials. Exercised TG mice demonstrated improvements in memory, which made them indistinguishable from WT mice on all tasks. In addition, animals provided with an immobile wheel exhibited improvement in some, but not all cognitive measures. Our findings demonstrate that exercise can improve cognitive performance in a mouse model of AD even if applied after the development of pathology.
authors: Institute for Brain Aging & Dementia, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697-4540, USA. knichol@uci.edu
authors: Kathryn E
authors: KE
authors: Nichol
authors: Anna I
authors: AI
authors: Parachikova
authors: Carl W
authors: CW
authors: Cotman
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000235:genetics* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000235:genetics*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D026241:Exercise Movement Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D012420:Running / Q000502:physiology*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides
references: J Neurosci. 2005 Sep 21;25(38):8680-5
references: 16177036
references: Psychol Bull. 1996 Sep;120(2):272-92
references: 8831298
references: Neuroreport. 2004 Aug 6;15(11):1751-4
references: 15257141
references: Science. 1996 Oct 4;274(5284):99-102
references: 8810256
references: Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2001 Oct;33(10):1620-8
references: 11581543
references: Trends Neurosci. 2002 Jun;25(6):295-301
references: 12086747
references: Nat Neurosci. 1999 Mar;2(3):266-70
references: 10195220
references: DNA Cell Biol. 2001 Nov;20(11):737-44
references: 11788052
references: Ann Neurol. 2003 Nov;54(5):582-90
references: 14595647
references: Physiol Behav. 2002 Apr 15;75(5):627-42
references: 12020728
references: Nat Protoc. 2006;1(4):1671-9
references: 17487150
references: Nat Neurosci. 1999 Mar;2(3):271-6
references: 10195221
references: J Am Geriatr Soc. 2005 Nov;53(11):2023-7
references: 16274390
references: Brain Behav Immun. 2004 May;18(3):214-20
references: 15116743
references: Brain Res. 1998 Mar 2;785(2):236-44
references: 9518631
references: J Neurotrauma. 2005 Jan;22(1):157-71
references: 15665610
references: Anim Behav. 1999 Dec;58(6):1307-1318
references: 10600154
references: J Neurosci. 2006 May 17;26(20):5340-6
references: 16707786
references: Physiol Behav. 2004 Oct 15;82(5):883-90
references: 15451654
references: J Neurosci. 2002 Jan 15;22(2):446-54
references: 11784789
references: Int J Neurosci. 2004 May;114(5):623-37
references: 15204068
references: Life Sci. 1992;51(8):565-74
references: 1640807
references: J Neurosci. 2005 May 25;25(21):5217-24
references: 15917461
references: Cell. 2005 Mar 11;120(5):701-13
references: 15766532
references: J Neurosci. 2005 Apr 27;25(17):4217-21
references: 15858047
references: Ann Neurol. 2002 Aug;52(2):135-43
references: 12210782
references: Nature. 2000 Dec 21-28;408(6815):982-5
references: 11140686
references: Behav Neurosci. 2006 Aug;120(4):787-803
references: 16893285
references: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 Mar 2;101(9):3316-21
references: 14978288
references: Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2004 Oct;85(10):1694-704
references: 15468033
references: Neuroscience. 2004;124(4):985-92
references: 15026138
references: Neurosci Res. 2003 Sep;47(1):55-63
references: 12941447
references: Neurobiol Aging. 2002 Sep-Oct;23(5):941-55
references: 12392797