Research Institute of Sport Sciences, Semmelweis University, 1123 Alkotás u. 44, Budapest, Hungary.
Biogerontology. 2012 Aug;13(4):413-27. doi: 10.1007/s10522-012-9386-3. Epub 2012 Jun 22.
Ageing of the brain is accompanied by variable degrees of cognitive decline. Estrogens have profound effects on brain ageing by exerting neurotrophic and neuroprotective types of action. Furthermore, exercise has also been claimed to play a role in the non-pharmacological prevention of psycho-neuronal decline with ageing. In the present study the question was asked whether chronic physical exercise might substitute the action of estrogens in aged rats. We compared the effects of 17β-estradiol (E2) treatment and long-term moderate physical exercise in ageing (15 months, early stage of ageing) and old (27 months) female rats, on cognitive functions and the relevant intracellular molecular signaling pathways in the hippocampus. Results showed that both treatments improved attention and memory functions of the 15 months old rats. Like E2, physical training enhanced the level of brain derived nerve growth factor and the activation of PKA/Akt/CREB and MAPK/CREB pathways. The treatments also enhanced the levels of synaptic molecules synaptophysin and synapsin I, which could explain the improved cognitive functions. In the 27 months old rats the behavioral and molecular effects of E2 were indistinguishable from those found in the 15 months old animals but the effects of physical exercise in most of the measures proved to be practically ineffective. It is concluded that the effectiveness of regular and moderate intensity physical exercise is age-dependent while the action of E2 treatment is comparable between the ageing and old female rats on maintaining cognition and its underlying molecular mechanisms.
大脑老化伴随着认知能力的不同程度下降。雌激素通过发挥神经营养和神经保护作用对大脑老化有深远的影响。此外，运动也被认为在非药物预防心理神经随年龄增长而衰退方面发挥作用。在本研究中，我们提出了一个问题，即慢性体力活动是否可以替代衰老大鼠中雌激素的作用。我们比较了 17β-雌二醇（E2）治疗和长期适度体力锻炼对衰老（15 个月，衰老早期）和老年（27 个月）雌性大鼠的认知功能和海马内相关细胞内分子信号通路的影响。结果表明，两种治疗方法都改善了 15 个月大的大鼠的注意力和记忆功能。与 E2 一样，体育锻炼增强了大脑源性神经营养因子的水平以及 PKA/Akt/CREB 和 MAPK/CREB 通路的激活。这些治疗方法还提高了突触分子突触小体和突触素 I 的水平，这可以解释认知功能的提高。在 27 个月大的大鼠中，E2 的行为和分子作用与 15 个月大的动物相似，但在大多数测量中，体育锻炼的作用实际上无效。结论是，定期适度强度的体力活动的有效性是年龄依赖性的，而 E2 治疗的作用在维持认知及其潜在分子机制方面在衰老和老年雌性大鼠之间是可比的。
