First Author | Wolf SA | Year | 2006 |
Journal | Biol Psychiatry | Volume | 60 |
Issue | 12 | Pages | 1314-23 |
PubMed ID | 16806094 | Mgi Jnum | J:128224 |
Mgi Id | MGI:3766524 | Doi | 10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.04.004 |
Citation | Wolf SA, et al. (2006) Cognitive and physical activity differently modulate disease progression in the amyloid precursor protein (APP)-23 model of Alzheimer's disease. Biol Psychiatry 60(12):1314-23 |
abstractText | BACKGROUND: In aging mice, activity maintains hippocampal plasticity and adult hippocampal neurogenesis at a level corresponding to a younger age. Here we studied whether physical exercise and environmental enrichment would also affect brain plasticity in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease (AD). METHODS: Amyloid precursor protein (APP)-23 mice were housed under standard or enriched conditions or in cages equipped with a running wheel. We assessed beta-amyloid plaque load, adult hippocampal neurogenesis, spatial learning, and mRNA levels of trophic factors in the brain. RESULTS: Despite stable beta-amyloid plaque load, enriched-living mice showed improved water maze performance, an up-regulation of hippocampal neurotrophin (NT-3) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and increased hippocampal neurogenesis. In contrast, despite increased bodily fitness, wheel-running APP23 mice showed no change in spatial learning and no change in adult hippocampal neurogenesis but a down-regulation of hippocampal and cortical growth factors. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that structural and molecular prerequisites for activity-dependent plasticity are preserved in mutant mice with an AD-like pathology. Our study might help explain benefits of activity for the aging brain but also demonstrates differences between physical and more cognitive activity. It also suggests a possible cellular correlate for the dissociation between structural and functional pathology often found in AD. |