Department of Pharmacy, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
Division of General Medicine, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
J Mol Neurosci. 2024 Nov 5;74(4):105. doi: 10.1007/s12031-024-02278-4.
Physical activity has been demonstrated to improve cognitive function, thereby preventing/slowing neurodegenerative diseases (NDs). Biological responses to physical activity and vulnerabilities to NDs are emerging to be gender-related. Herein, known ND-associated markers (β-amyloid, tau, α-synuclein), main sex steroid hormones, antioxidant responses, and key gene transcription modulators were evaluated in the blood of physically active and sedentary women and men. In our hands, females presented higher basal erythrocytes β-amyloid and α-synuclein amounts than males. Regular physical activity was able to significantly reduce the erythrocyte content of β-amyloid in females and the tau levels in males, suggesting that these differences may be mediated by organizational actions of sex steroid hormones during development. Furthermore, despite a comparable plasma antioxidant capability (AOC) between males and females, in the latter group, physical activity significantly enhances AOC versus peroxynitrite radicals only. Finally, regular physical activity modulated the levels of transcription factor Nrf2 in erythrocytes, as well as the plasma concentration of the microRNA miR-195 and miR-153, suggesting the promotion of antioxidant/autophagic processes associated with ND-related proteins. Overall, these results could shed light on how cerebral adaptations to physical activity differ between males and females, especially with regard to blood accumulation of ND proteins and mechanisms of antioxidant responses to regular exercise.
体育锻炼已被证实可改善认知功能,从而预防/延缓神经退行性疾病(NDs)。对体育锻炼的生物学反应和对 NDs 的脆弱性似乎与性别有关。在此,评估了活跃和久坐的女性和男性血液中的已知与 ND 相关的标志物(β-淀粉样蛋白、tau、α-突触核蛋白)、主要性激素、抗氧化反应和关键基因转录调节剂。在我们的研究中,女性的基础红细胞β-淀粉样蛋白和α-突触核蛋白含量高于男性。有规律的体育锻炼能够显著降低女性红细胞中的β-淀粉样蛋白含量和男性的 tau 水平,这表明这些差异可能是由发育过程中性激素的组织作用介导的。此外,尽管男性和女性的血浆抗氧化能力(AOC)相当,但在女性组中,体育锻炼仅能显著增强 AOC 对抗过氧亚硝酸盐自由基的能力。最后,有规律的体育锻炼调节了红细胞转录因子 Nrf2 的水平以及血浆中 microRNA miR-195 和 miR-153 的浓度,表明促进了与 ND 相关蛋白相关的抗氧化/自噬过程。总的来说,这些结果可以说明男性和女性大脑对体育锻炼的适应有何不同,特别是在 ND 蛋白在血液中的积累和对常规运动的抗氧化反应机制方面。