Exercise and donepezil reduced nerve dysfunction in mice
In male mice modeling Alzheimer’s disease, four weeks of wheel access or daily donepezil also reduced muscle dysfunction and changes in nerve proteins.
Our read
Interventions- Studied:
- Experiments in male 5xFAD mice and littermates, 4 weeks
- What changed:
- Exercise and donepezil reduced dysfunction in nerve electrical responses and muscle turning force at 4 months
- The catch:
- The experiments included only male mice, omitting female mice
- In the record:
- One of 52 papers on donepezil on record: 11 with results in people, 9 in animals.
- Why it’s aging research:
- It studies an intervention with evidence of extending healthy life.
Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Researchers studied male 5xFAD mice, which carry five Alzheimer’s-linked mutations, and littermates without those mutations in animal experiments. They measured proteins in the sciatic nerves, which run down the legs, in five mice per group at 3, 4 and 7 months. Protein changes coincided with functional decline at 4 months. These changes involved processes linked to mitochondria, cells’ energy-producing structures, as well as calcium handling and inflammation.
In separate groups starting at 3 months, mice received four weeks of wheel access or daily donepezil at 3 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. Both interventions reduced dysfunction in nerve electrical responses and in the turning force generated by nerve-stimulated muscles at 4 months. Both also reduced nerve-protein changes through shared and distinct processes centered on mitochondria.
Why it matters
Early nerve and muscle changes may matter for the timing of interventions in Alzheimer’s disease, an age-related brain disorder, the authors suggest.
Caveats
These four-week experiments in male mice do not establish benefits in people or effects in females. Markers of Alzheimer’s-like disease remained elevated after either intervention.
Exercise is part of Bryan Johnson's Blueprint
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