Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience (Apr 2019)

Treadmill Exercise Decreases Aβ Deposition and Counteracts Cognitive Decline in APP/PS1 Mice, Possibly via Hippocampal Microglia Modifications

  • Xianliang Zhang,
  • Qiang He,
  • Tao Huang,
  • Na Zhao,
  • Fei Liang,
  • Bo Xu,
  • Xianghe Chen,
  • Tuojian Li,
  • Jianzhong Bi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2019.00078
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11

Abstract

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Recent studies have suggested that exercise may be beneficial for delaying or attenuating Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the underlying mechanisms were not clear. Microglia-mediated neuroinflammation is suggested to play an important role in the pathology of AD. The present study investigated the beneficial effects of treadmill exercise on amyloid-β (Aβ) deposition and cognitive function in amyloid precursor protein (APP)/PS1 mice in the early stage of AD progression and microglia-mediated neuroinflammation was mainly analyzed. The results demonstrated that 12 weeks of treadmill exercise preserved hippocampal cognitive function in APP/PS1 mice and substantially suppressed Aβ accumulation in the hippocampus. Treadmill exercise significantly inhibited neuroinflammation, which was characterized by a remarkably reduced expression of pro-inflammatory factors and increased expression of anti-inflammatory mediators in the hippocampus, resulting from a shift in activated microglia from the M1 to M2 phenotype. Treadmill exercise also attenuated oxidative stress presented by a marked reduction in methane dicarboxylic aldehyde (MDA) level and dramatically elevated SOD and Mn-SOD activities in the hippocampus. These findings suggest that treadmill exercise can effectively prevent the decrease in hippocampal-dependent cognitive function and Aβ deposits in early AD progression possibly via modulating microglia-mediated neuroinflammation and oxidative stress.

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