Pathological features of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) include alterations in the structure and function of neurons as well as of myelin sheaths. Accumulated evidence shows that aerobic type of exercise can enhance neuroplasticity in mouse models of AD. However, whether and how aerobic exercise can affect myelin sheath repair and neuroprotection in the AD models remains unclear. In this study we tested the hypotheses that 1) myelin structural alterations in 3xTg-AD mice would be related to abnormalities in oligodendrocyte lineage cells, resulting in impaired learning and memory, and 2) a 6-month aerobic exercise intervention would have beneficial effects on such alterations. Two-month-old male 3xTg-AD mice were randomly assigned to a control (AC) or an exercise (AE) group, and age-matched male C57BL/6;129 mice were also randomly assigned to a normal control (NC) or an exercise (NE) group, with n = 12 in each group. Mice in the exercise groups were trained on a motor-drive treadmill, 60 min per day, 5 days per week for 6 months. Cognitive function was assessed at the end of the intervention period. Then, brain specimens were obtained for assessments of morphological and oligodendrocyte lineage cell changes. The results of electron microscopy showed that myelin ultrastructure demonstrated a higher percentage of loose and granulated myelin sheath around axons in the temporal lobe in the AC, as compared with the NC group, along with greater cognitive dysfunction at 8-months of age. These differences were accompanied by significantly greater myelin basic protein (MBP) expression and less neuron-glial antigen-2 (NG2) protein and mRNA levels in the AC, compared to the NC. However, there were no significant between-group differences in the G-ratio (the ratio of axon diameter to axon plus myelin sheath diameter) and 2',3'-cyclic-nucleotide 3'-phosphodiesterase (CNPase) protein and mRNA levels. The aerobic exercise ameliorated cognitive deterioration and appeared to keep components of myelin sheath and oligodendrocyte precursor cells stabilized, resulting in a decrease in the percentage of loose and granulated myelin sheath and MBP protein, and an increase in NG2 protein and mRNA levels in the AE group. Therefore, the 6-month exercise intervention demonstrated beneficial effects on myelin lesions, abnormal differentiation of oligodendrocytes and general brain function in the 3xTg-AD mice, providing further insights into the role of aerobic exercise in management of neurodegeneration in AD by maintaining intact myelination.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 7. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 22 September 2023.
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#4,840,893
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#7
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Altmetric has tracked 25,394,764 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 79th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,799 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 10.4. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 70% of its peers.
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