A yeast enzyme mimicked exercise’s effects on tau in mice
Three months of wheel running reduced signs of abnormal tau protein by over 70% in PS19 mice’s hippocampus, a memory-related brain region, versus sedentary controls.
Our read
Interventions- Studied:
- Preprint: experiments in PS19 mice, against mice receiving a control virus (Randomized)
- What changed:
- Abnormal tau decreased in mice producing the yeast enzyme Ndi1 compared with mice receiving a control virus
- The catch:
- Only three mice per group supported the reduction in abnormal tau
- Stake:
- An author founded Atavistik Bioscience.
- In the record:
- One of 9,872 papers on exercise on record: 3,859 with results in people, 609 in animals.
Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
PS19 mice, which develop abnormal forms of the brain protein tau, and wild-type mice underwent animal experiments from 3 to 6 months of age. Wheel-running and sedentary groups each contained three mice of each type. Researchers mapped metabolic chemicals across six organs in wild-type mice and found particularly pronounced, region-specific brain changes.
In PS19 mice, exercise reduced abnormal tau in the hippocampus and restored patterns of chemicals related to mitochondria, cells’ energy-producing structures. Protein and chemical analyses pointed to Complex I, a mitochondrial enzyme complex. In separate PS19 groups of three mice, researchers used a virus to make neurons produce Ndi1, a yeast enzyme that can carry out part of Complex I’s function. Without exercise, this reduced abnormal tau and increased brain antioxidants compared with a control virus.
Why it matters
Abnormal tau is a feature of Alzheimer’s disease. The authors propose a mitochondrial mechanism through which exercise may prevent or slow tau accumulation.
Caveats
The tau result rested on brain-tissue staining in PS19 mice, with only three mice per group. The preprint has not been peer-reviewed, and these experiments do not establish effects in people.
Exercise is part of Bryan Johnson's Blueprint
The paper
University of Florida
bioRxiv, Jun 22, 2026, Open access, Preprint, not yet peer-reviewed
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