Effect of aerobic training on plasma levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, metabolic variables and cognitive functions in elderly with Alzheimer's disease

• Grant number: 11/10051-6
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): January 01, 2012
• Effective date (End): February 28, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Physical Education
• Principal researcher: Ruth Ferreira Santos-Galduroz
• Grantee: Flávia Gomes de Melo Coelho
• Home Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by neuropathological and metabolic alterations that contribute to cognitive decline. Patients with AD have low expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in brain tissue. This reduction may be associated with increased cholesterol, triglycerides and insulin resistance, contributing to the progression of cognitive decline. Recent studies suggest that physical exercise, specifically aerobic exercise is effective for increasing concentrations of BDNF in healthy elderly. However, there are no studies analyzing the effect of exercise on serum BDNF and its relationship with metabolic variables and cognitive functions of elderly patients with AD. The objective of this study is to analyze and correlate serum levels of BDNF, metabolic variables, cognitive function after three months of a program of aerobic training in older adults with AD. At first, the cross-sectional study, participate 80 elderly, 40 healthy elderly and 40 elderly with AD. In the second, for experimental study, only the elderly with AD will be invited to participate in intervention protocol, which will be composed of two groups: 1) training Group (TG, n = 20), 2) Control Group (CG, n = 20). The elderly will be evaluated by a protocol, which will include the following assessment tools: Clinical Dementia Rating, Mini Mental State Examination, Frontal Assessment Battery, Clock Drawing Test, Verbal Fluency Test, Test Search Symbols, Geriatric Depression Scale, Test Incremental and blood collection to obtain BDNF, metabolic variables (total cholesterol and fractions, triglycerides, insulin and glucose) and lactate. The protocol of aerobic training will be realized on the treadmill three times a week in a session of 40 minutes during the period of three months. Data analysis will be verified the data distribution by the Shapiro Wilk. If the distribution is normal, we will use the Student's t test (for dependent and independent samples), Two-Way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation test and post-hoc Tukey. If the distribution is not parametric, will be realized the Mann-Whitney U test, Wilcoxon test and Spearman correlation test. Will be allowed a significance level of 5% (p> 0.05) for all analysis.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

DE MELO COELHO, FLAVIA GOMES; VITAL, THAYS MARTINS; STEIN, ANGELICA MIKI; ARANTES, FRANCIEL JOSE; RUEDA, ANDRE VELOSO; CAMARINI, ROSANA; TEODOROV, ELIZABETH; SANTOS-GALDUROZ, RUTH FERREIRA. Acute Aerobic Exercise Increases Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Levels in Elderly with Alzheimer's Disease. JOURNAL OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE, v. 39, n. 2, p. 401-408, 2014. Web of Science Citations: 72.