MSGID: 1:317/3 64703604   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Running throughout middle age keeps 'old' adult-born neurons 'wired'   
    'Mice on the run:' study reveals how exercise helps maintain memory   
   function during aging    
      
     Date:   
         May 25, 2023   
     Source:   
         Florida Atlantic University   
     Summary:   
         A new study provides novel insight into the benefits of exercise,   
         which should motivate adults to keep moving throughout their   
         lifetime, especially during middle age. Long-term exercise   
         profoundly benefits the aging brain and may prevent aging-related   
         memory function decline by increasing the survival and modifying   
         the network of the adult-born neurons born during early adulthood,   
         and thereby facilitating their participation in cognitive processes.   
      
      
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   FULL STORY   
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   A new study provides novel insight into the benefits of exercise,   
   which should motivate adults to keep moving throughout their lifetime,   
   especially during middle age. Long-term exercise profoundly benefits   
   the aging brain and may prevent aging-related memory function decline   
   by increasing the survival and modifying the network of the adult-born   
   neurons born during early adulthood, and thereby facilitating their   
   participation in cognitive processes.   
      
   Aging often is accompanied by cognitive decline. Among the first   
   structures of the brain affected are the hippocampus and adjacent   
   cortices, areas essential for learning and memory. Deficits in cognitive   
   ability are associated with reduced hippocampal volume and degradation of   
   synaptic connectivity between the hippocampus and the (peri)-entorhinal   
   cortex.   
      
   Increasing evidence indicates that physical activity can delay or prevent   
   these structural and functional reductions in older adults. A new study by   
   Florida Atlantic University and CINVESTAV, Mexico City, Mexico, provides   
   novel insight into the benefits of exercise, which should motivate adults   
   to keep moving throughout their lifetime, especially during middle age.   
      
   For the study, researchers focused on the effects of long-term running   
   on a network of new hippocampal neurons that were generated in young   
   adult mice, at middle age. These "mice on the run" demonstrate that   
   running throughout middle age keeps old adult-born neurons wired, which   
   may prevent or delay aging- related memory loss and neurodegeneration.   
      
   Adult-born neurons are thought to contribute to hippocampus-dependent   
   memory function and are believed to be temporarily important, during the   
   so-called 'critical period' at about three to six weeks of cell age, when   
   they can fleetingly display increased synaptic plasticity. However, these   
   new neurons do remain present for many months, but it was unclear whether   
   those born in early adulthood remain integrated into neural networks and   
   whether their circuitry is modifiable by physical activity in middle age.   
      
   To address these questions, researchers used a unique rabies virus-based   
   circuit tracing approach with a long-time interval between the initial   
   labeling of new neurons and subsequent analysis of their neural circuitry   
   in rodents.   
      
   More than six months after tagging of the adult-born neurons with a   
   fluorescent reporter vector, they identified and quantified the direct   
   afferent inputs to these adult-born neurons within the hippocampus and   
   (sub)cortical areas, when the mice were middle-aged.   
      
   Results of the study, published in the journal eNeuro,show long-term   
   running wires 'old' new neurons, born during early adulthood, into a   
   network that is relevant to the maintenance of episodic memory encoding   
   during aging.   
      
   "Long-term exercise profoundly benefits the aging brain and may prevent   
   aging- related memory function decline by increasing the survival   
   and modifying the network of the adult-born neurons born during early   
   adulthood, and thereby facilitating their participation in cognitive   
   processes," said Henriette van Praag, Ph.D., corresponding author, an   
   associate professor of biomedical science in FAU's Schmidt College of   
   Medicine and a member of the FAU Stiles- Nicholson Brain Institute.   
      
   Findings from the study showed long-term running significantly increased   
   the number of adult-born neurons and enhanced the recruitment of   
   presynaptic (sub)- cortical cells to their network.   
      
   "Long-term running may enhance pattern separation ability, our ability   
   to distinguish between highly similar events and stimuli, a behavior   
   closely linked to adult neurogenesis, which is among the first to display   
   deficits indicative of age-related memory decline," said Carmen Vivar,   
   Ph.D., corresponding author, Department of Physiology, Biophysics and   
   Neuroscience, Centro de Investigacion y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN   
   in Mexico.   
      
   Aging-related memory function decline is associated with the degradation   
   of synaptic inputs from the perirhinal and entorhinal cortex onto the   
   hippocampus, brain areas that are essential for pattern separation,   
   and contextual and spatial memory.   
      
   "We show that running also substantially increases the back-projection   
   from the dorsal subiculum onto old adult-born granule cells," said van   
   Praag. "This connectivity may provide navigation-associated information   
   and mediate the long-term running-induced improvement in spatial memory   
   function."  Results from the study show that running not only rescued   
   perirhinal connectivity but also increased and altered the contribution   
   of the entorhinal cortices to the network of old adult-born neurons.   
      
   "Our study provides insight as to how chronic exercise, beginning in   
   young adulthood and continuing throughout middle age, helps maintain   
   memory function during aging, emphasizing the relevance of including   
   exercise in our daily lives," said Vivar.   
      
   Study co-authors are Ben Peterson, Ph.D., currently a postdoc at UC Davis;   
   Alejandro Pinto, FAU's Schmidt College of Medicine and Stiles-Nicholson   
   Brain Institute; and Emma Janke, a recent graduate of the University   
   of Pennsylvania.   
      
   This research was supported in part by the FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain   
   Institute and the Jupiter Life Sciences Initiative (awarded to van Praag),   
   and by the Fondo de Investigacio'n Cienti'fica y Desarrollo Tecnolo'gico   
   del Cinvestav (Proyectos SEP-Cinvestav), (awarded to Vivar).   
      
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Health_&_Medicine   
                   # Nervous_System # Healthy_Aging # Fitness #   
                   Chronic_Illness   
             o Mind_&_Brain   
                   # Intelligence # Dementia # Neuroscience # Memory   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Dementia o Anaerobic_exercise o Swimming o Neural_network   
             o Aerobic_exercise o Memory o Eustachian_tube o   
             Baldness_treatments   
      
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   Story Source: Materials provided by Florida_Atlantic_University. Original   
   written by Gisele Galoustian. Note: Content may be edited for style   
   and length.   
      
      
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   Journal Reference:   
      1. Carmen Vivar, Ben Peterson, Alejandro Pinto, Emma Janke,   
      Henriette van   
         Praag. Running throughout Middle-Age Keeps Old Adult-Born Neurons   
         Wired.   
      
         eneuro, 2023; 10 (5): ENEURO.0084-23.2023 DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0084-   
         23.2023   
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   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/05/230525140336.htm   
      
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