Sport does not help memory in people at risk of Alzheimer’s disease
Published: Tuesday, May 28th 2024, 12:10
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Sport does not improve the memory of people with a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer's disease. In a new study, people without this genetic mutation showed greater activation of the brain region that is important for memory after an exercise session. This was not the case for people with the genetic mutation.
Their hippocampal neurons were hyperactive even without sport, as the University of Geneva reported on Tuesday. For the study, which was published in the journal "Cerebral Cortex", the researchers from the University of Geneva, together with researchers from the University of Lausanne, showed a series of images to 50 people aged between 18 and 25.
They then allowed the test subjects to cycle for 30 minutes or rest for 30 minutes. Finally, they were asked to reproduce the order in which they had been shown the pictures.
20 percent affected by gene mutation
Half of the test subjects were carriers of a mutation in a gene called APOE. This increases the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by three to twelve times and delays the onset of the disease by an average of almost 15 years. Around 20 percent of the population are affected.
As the study shows, people with the gene mutation performed worse in the memory test than those without the mutation. This was the case both after a sports session and after a rest period.
However, while the hippocampus was significantly more active after exercise in people without the gene mutation than after the rest phase, the hippocampal neurons were overactivated in the Alzheimer's risk individuals in both test sessions, as the researchers wrote in the study.
Sport still healthy
"This observation points to the presence of physiological adaptation or compensation mechanisms," study leader Sophie Schwartz was quoted as saying in the university's press release. In the brains of people with the mutation, the hippocampus may have to be mobilized more in order to achieve the same memory performance.
However, the researchers emphasized that these results do not call into question the positive effect of sport in general. Physical activity is still beneficial for the neuronal and cognitive health of people with and without Alzheimer's risk.
©Keystone/SDA
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