Abstract
Aging is often accompanied by cognitive decline, memory impairment and an increased susceptibility to neurodegenerative disorders. Most of these age-related alterations have been associated with deleterious processes such as changes in the expression of inflammatory cytokines. Indeed, higher levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and lower levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines are found in the aged brain. This perturbation in pro- and anti-inflammatory balance can represent one of the mechanisms that contribute to age-associated neuronal dysfunction and brain vulnerability. We conducted an experimental study to investigate whether an aerobic exercise program could promote changes in inflammatory response in the brains of aged rats. To do so, we evaluated the levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), interleukin 1 beta (IL1β), interleukin 6 (IL6) and interleukin 10 (IL10) in the hippocampal formation of 18 month old rats that underwent treadmill training over 10 consecutive days. Quantitative immunoassay analyses showed that the physical exercise increased anti-inflammatory cytokine levels IL10 in the hippocampal formation of aged rats, when compared to the control group. The hippocampal levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL1β, IL6 and TNFα were not statistically different between the groups. However, a significant reduction in IL1β/IL10, IL6/IL10 and TNFα/IL10 ratio was observed in the exercised group in relation to the control group. These findings indicate a favorable effect of physical exercise in the balance between hippocampal pro- and anti-inflammatory during aging, as well as reinforce the potential therapeutic of exercise in reducing the risk of neuroinflammation-linked disorders.
Highlights
Aging is often accompanied by cognitive decline, memory impairment and an increased susceptibility to neurodegenerative disorders [1]
When quantitatively analyzed by immunoassay, a significant increase in the interleukin 10 (IL10) levels was detected in the hippocampal formation of aged rats from the exercise group (50.33 ± 7.05 pg/ml, P
The present study investigated the hippocampal levels of TNFα, IL1β, interleukin 6 (IL6) and IL10 in senescent rats submitted to an aerobic exercise program of 10 days on a treadmill
Summary
Aging is often accompanied by cognitive decline, memory impairment and an increased susceptibility to neurodegenerative disorders [1] Most of these age-related alterations have been associated with deleterious processes such as changes in cytokine expression [2]. Cytokines are cell-signaling proteins secreted to mediate the response of the body’s defense system to injury, and to regulate diverse inflammatory processes. Exercise may be a potential intervention to improve the cognitive performance of the elderly [11], and to reduce the onset or progression of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease [12] and Alzheimer’s disease [13] These beneficial effects of exercise during aging should be related to changes in cytokine brain expression. In view of these observations, we conducted a study to investigate the levels of TNFα, IL1β, IL6 and IL10 in the hippocampal formation - a highly plastic region of the brain that is linked to cognitive and emotional processes - of senescent rats submitted to an aerobic exercise program
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