Effects of aerobic exercise training on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), cognitive function and motor function in Alzheimer's Disease

• Grant number: 12/21286-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2013
• Effective date (End): February 28, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Physical Education
• Principal Investigator: Ruth Ferreira Santos-Galduroz
• Grantee: Thays Martins Vital
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Changes in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) appear to have a relationship with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Evidence in the literature indicate that physical exercise is an important non-pharmacological treatment in AD. The aim of this study was divided into two parts, Part 1: compare serum VEGF before and after a session of acute exercise in the cognitively preserved elderly and in elderly patients with AD. Part 2: Analyze and correlate serum levels of VEGF, cognitive functions and motor function in elderly patients with AD after twelve weeks of aerobic training. Therefore, in Part 1, will participate in this study were 80 elderly, 40 cognitively preserved elderly and 40 elderly patients with AD. In Part 2, only elderly patients with AD participate in the intervention protocol: 1) Training Group (TG-n = 20), 2) Control Group (CG, n = 20). All elderly will be submitted an assessment protocol, which consists of cognitive and motor assessment, level of physical activity, Incremental Testing and blood collection for obtaining VEGF, lactate and metabolic variables. The aerobic training protocol on a treadmill, three times a week, the overhead will be made every three weeks with an increase of five minutes at the time of the training, it will start with 25 minutes and 40 minutes will be finalized. The Shapiro Wilk's will verify the distribution of the data. For parametric data will be used the Student t test, Two-Way ANOVA, Pearson correlation test and post-hoc Tukey for non-parametric tests will be conducted Mann Whitney U, Wilcoxon, and Spearman correlation. Level of significance of 5% will be admitted. (AU)

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)

VITAL, THAYS MARTINS; STEIN, ANGELICA MIKI; DE MELO COELHO, FLAVIA GOMES; ARANTES, FRANCIEL JOSE; TEODOROV, ELIZABETH; SANTOS-GALDUROZ, RUTH FERREIRA. Physical exercise and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in elderly: A systematic review. ARCHIVES OF GERONTOLOGY AND GERIATRICS, v. 59, n. 2, p. 234-239, SEP-OCT 2014. (12/21286-7)