Abstract
Physical activity (PA) and Alzheimer's disease are associated. However, how PA influences the cerebral β-amyloid (Aβ) burden remains unclear. The aim of this study was to determine if PA levels and/or functional capacity (FC) are associated with Aβ plaque deposition, and whether these associations differed according to APOE-ε4 genotype. A total of 117 women (69.7 ± 2.6 years; 33.3% APOE-ε4-carriers) from the Women's Healthy Ageing Project cohort (WHAP) were analyzed. PA was measured using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and, FC was evaluated using the Timed Up and Go test (TUGt). Positron emission tomography with F-18 Florbetaben was carried out to assess cerebral Aβ burden, and quantified using standardized uptake value rations. The sample was split into PA and TUGt tertiles (T1, T2 and T3), and compared according to APOE-ε4 genotype (positive/negative). There were no significant differences in Aβ accumulation according to PA tertiles and APOE-ε4 genotype. Regarding FC, APOE-ε4+ participants in the first TUGt tertile (high performance) obtained significant lower Aβ accumulations compared with the other two tertiles (p < 0.05). Comparing between genotypes, greater Aβ depositions were found between T2 and T3 in APOE-ε4+ compared with those who were APOE-ε4– (p < 0.05). Values of TUGt ≥ 6.5 s (APOE-ε4+) and 8.5 s (APOE-ε4–) were associated with an increased risk of having higher Aβ retention. In conclusion, low performance in TUGt is associated with a negative effect on brain pathology with increasing cerebral Aβ depositions in older women who are APOE-ε4+. In physically active older women (> 600 METs·min/week), higher PA levels are not associated with reduction in Aβ depositions.
Highlights
The accumulation of amyloid beta (Aβ) peptides in the brain is recognized as the earliest detectable pathophysiological abnormality in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) (Gandy, 2005)
This study evaluated associations between physical activity (PA) and functional capacity (FC) and cerebral Aβ deposition in older women from the Women’s Healthy Ageing Project cohort (WHAP) cohort
The main findings of the present study are: (1) in physically active older women (> 600 metabolic equivalent (MET)·min/week), higher PA levels are not associated with reduction in cerebral Aβ deposition; (2) better performance in the Timed Up and Go test (TUGt) is associated with lower Aβ brain deposition in APOE-ε4+; (3) a high PA level and faster TUGt results appear to lead to less cerebral Aβ retention in APOE-ε4+; (4) TUGt results slower than 6.5 (APOE-ε4+) and 8.5 s (APOE-ε4–) are associated with an increased risk of amyloid accumulation at levels above the accepted normal range
Summary
The accumulation of amyloid beta (Aβ) peptides in the brain is recognized as the earliest detectable pathophysiological abnormality in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) (Gandy, 2005). Previous studies have observed how cognitively healthy people, with a predisposition to accumulate Aβ brain, can begin to experience progressive increases in the retention of this peptide even 20 years before reaching the thresholds for amyloidosis (Rowe et al, 2010; Perani et al, 2014). There are limitations in assessing physical activity (PA) using objective methods, which often do not reflect personal physical performance. In this sense, evaluation of functional capacity (FC) has been identified as an objective measure which is a reflection of individual fitness, positively associated with many indices of health, and as early predictive factor of brain deterioration (Erickson et al, 2014; Rabin et al, 2019). The objective of this study was to determine if PA levels and/or FC are associated with Aβ plaque deposition in older women, and whether these associations differed according to APOE-ε4 genotype
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