The influence of aerobic exercise on myostatin expression and its relationship with Alzheimer's Disease in APP/PS1mice

• Grant number: 22/01220-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2022
• End date: May 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Physical Education
• Principal Investigator: Adelino Sanchez Ramos da Silva
• Grantee: Ester Bergamaschi Farias
• Host Institution: Escola de Educação Física e Esporte de Ribeirão Preto (EEFERP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 19/11820-5 - Nr1d1 function on the aging-associated Sarcopenia, AP.TEM

Abstract

Almost all over the world, the largest growing contingent is people aged 60 or over. Due to population aging, the high prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases becomes more worrying, such as dementia. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia, characterized by the formation of senile A² plaque (²-amyloid plaque). In addition to AD, another problem observed in the elderly population is sarcopenia, a syndrome characterized by loss of mass, quality, and progressive and generalized skeletal muscle strength. The loss of lean mass is accelerated in AD, perhaps as a direct or indirect consequence of the physiopathology of AD or through mechanisms common to AD and sarcopenia, such as the myostatin signaling pathway. High levels of myostatin are associated with the loss of muscle mass observed during aging. On the other hand, aerobic exercise has been recommended for the prevention and treatment of AD and proved effective inhibit myostatin in animal models of AD. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate whether a physical exercise protocol will lead to decreased expression of the myostatin pathway, preventing the loss of muscle mass and consequently reducing the damage related to Alzheimer's disease. The mice will be divided into 4 groups: control (CT; sedentary wild type), control AD (CAD; sedentary APP/PS1); trained (TR; wild type submitted to exercise protocol); trained AD (TAD; APP/PS1 submitted to exercise protocol). Methods employed include memory testing, immunoblotting, and Real time-PCR.(AU)