Exercise-induced upregulation of APOE expression is attenuated by dietary supplementation with resveratrol

Abstract

The ε4 variant of the Apolipoprotein E gene (APOE4) is the most prevalent genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Approximately 25% of people carry at least one copy of the variant which increases risk of AD two-to-three-fold relative to those who carry the ε3 variant. Low ApoE levels are typically reported in Alzheimer’s patients and animal studies have reveal lower levels of ApoE in ε4 carriers relative to ε3 carriers. Therefore, reduced ApoE levels has been associated with increased risk for dementia. Physical exercise and active lifestyles are well-accepted therapeutic strategies for the prevention or delay of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, Additionally, there is growing evidence that the consumption of antioxidant nutritional supplements may also be therapeutic and slow progression of AD. But the effect of physical activity or antioxidant intake on APOE expression is not well-studied.The objective of this study is to determine the impact of exercise and resveratrol intake on APOE expression. We hypothesized that both resveratrol intake and exercise would increase APOE expression in brain with an additive effect when combined. Targeted replacement mice, homozygous for either APOE3 or APOE4 were randomized into four groups based on activity and resveratrol dietary supplementation: sedentary standard, sedentary resveratrol, exercise standard, and exercise resveratrol. Exercised groups were subjected to daily treadmill running for 8 weeks. Resveratrol treated groups were fed a chow supplemented with resveratrol. Results showed that exercise induced a significant increase in ApoE protein in brain cortex of both APOE3 and APOE4 mice. Resveratrol treatment alone had no significant effect on brain APOE expression, but in combination with exercise, attenuated the exercise-induced increase. While biochemical variations between APOE3 and APOE4 mice likely contribute to the differential risk for AD, the exercise-induced increase in ApoE levels in both genotypes supports a role for APOE in the therapeutic mechanisms of exercise. The timing of antioxidant supplementation in conjunction with exercise interventions should be critically considered to ensure best therapeutic efficacy of exercise. This research was supported by NIH grants R25AG047843 and 2U54MD007597-31 This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.