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 New
reason to hit the gym: Fighting memory loss
Newswise — Research has shown that
people who exercise do better on memory tests. Now a new Columbia
University Medical Center study explains specifically what exercise
does within the brain. Exercise, the researchers found, targets a
region of the brain within the hippocampus, known as the dentate
gyrus, which underlies normal age-related memory decline that begins
around age 30 for most adults.
This finding is significant
because it was accomplished via the first-ever observation of
neurogenesis, the growth of neurons, within a living brain. Using an
MRI imaging technique developed at Columbia, the researchers were
able to identify neurogenesis within the dentate gyrus region
following exercise. Previously, researchers were only able to prove
neurogenesis upon postmortem exam in animal studies.
“No previous research has
systematically examined the different regions of the hippocampus and
identified which region is most affected by exercise,” said Scott A.
Small, M.D., associate professor of neurology at Columbia University
Medical Center and the study’s lead author. “I, like many
physicians, already encourage my patients to get active and this
adds yet another reason to the long list of reasons why exercise is
good for overall health.”
Published in the March 12-16, 2007
early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences, the finding builds upon previous research at
Columbia that identified the role of the dentate gyrus region of the
hippocampus in normal age-related memory decline. Additionally, Fred
“Rusty” Gage, Ph.D. of the Salk Institute, a lead co-investigator on
this study, had demonstrated in mice that the dentate gyrus is the
one area of the brain where new neurons are generated, and that
exercise improves this process. This is the first human study to
emerge out of this observation.
“Our next step is to identify the exercise regimen that is most
beneficial to improve cognition and reduce normal memory loss, so
that physicians may be able to prescribe specific types of exercise
to improve memory,” said Dr. Small, who is also a research scholar
at the Columbia University Taub Institute for Research on
Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain.
Additional Columbia researchers
who contributed to this study include: Ana C. Pereira, Rene Hen, Dan
E. Huddleston, Adam M. Brickman, Alexander A. Sosunov, Guy M.
McKhann, Truman R. Brown and Richard Sloan.
The Taub Institute for
Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia
University Medical Center is a multidisciplinary group that has
forged links between researchers and clinicians to uncover the
causes of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other age-related brain
diseases and discover ways to prevent and cure these diseases. It
has partnered with the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center at Columbia
University Medical Center which was established by an endowment in
1977 to focus on diseases of the nervous system. The Center
integrates traditional epidemiology with genetic analysis and
clinical investigation to explore all phases of diseases of the
nervous system. For more information about these centers visit:
http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/dept/taub/
http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/dept/sergievsky/.
Columbia University Medical Center
provides international leadership in basic, pre-clinical and
clinical research, in medical and health sciences education, and in
patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes
the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, nurses, dentists,
and public health professionals at the College of Physicians &
Surgeons, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the
Mailman School of Public Health, the biomedical departments of the
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers
and institutions.
http://www.cumc.columbia.edu
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