Even small amounts of exercise can protect the elderly from memory loss
August 12th 2011 08:23
Older people can stave off long-term memory loss that sometimes follow an illness with just a small amount of exercise, scientists say.
A study from the University of Colorado Boulder found aging rats infected with E.coli were protected against memory loss if they ran just half a mile each week.
Lead researcher Ruth Barrientos, said just this small amount of running was enough to give 'robust benefits' to the animals over those that didn't exercise.
She added: 'This is an important finding because those of advanced age are more vulnerable to memory impairments following immune challenges such as bacterial infections or surgery.
'With baby boomers currently at retirement age, the risk of diminished memory function in this population is of great concern. Thus, effective noninvasive therapies are of substantial clinical value.'
Bacterial infections kick off a cascade of events that signal the brain that something is wrong.
Barrientos and colleagues previously found older rats experienced memory loss following E. coli infection, an outcome not seen in young adult rats.
They also found the microglia - immune defense cells in the brain - of older animals became more reactive to infection, releasing more chemicals involved in inflammation in the hippocampus,
The team therefore believe exercise may have an anti-inflammatory effect on the brain.
The results of the study appear in the latest edition of The Journal of Neuroscience.
'To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show that voluntary exercise in rats reduces aging-induced susceptibility to the cognitive impairments that follow a bacterial infection, and the processes thought to underlie these impairments,' Barrientos said.
A small amount of exercise each week following an infection could have an anti-inflammatory effect in the brain, scientists say
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