What is it about?

This study showed that 35 minutes of physical exercise created a 25% increase of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in serum. After the same amount of cognitive training or mindfulness the same persons did not show any common changes of their BDNF levels. The experiment was performed on 19 healthy elderly persons in Sweden.

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Why is it important?

BDNF is a protein of importance for learning and creation of synapses between neurons. But BDNF can also be produced in other parts of the body than the brain. As we measured BDNF in serum only after 35 minutes of training, we cannot be sure that the origin of the BDNF we measured actually came from the brain. However, we also found that the BDNF increases correlated with differences in working memory performance between the 19 individuals. If it can be assumed that BDNF plays a central role in memory processes, this result suggests that the ability to respond with a BDNF increase to physical exericse may somehow be associated with BDNF functionality also in the brain.

Perspectives

I think it is important to note that this experiment was only on immediate increases of BDNF levels. As BDNF from the brain does not easily pass into the blood stream, and as BDNF can be produced in many parts of the body, also outside the brain, we cannot preclude the possibility that the other two exercises had effects on BDNF levels in the brain. To address this possiblity we would need to compare the same exercises over a longer period of time, after which a BDNF increase in the brain would more likely also be reflected in the blood. In many studies on physical exercise and BDNF in serum, it is taken for granted that observed increases of BDNF levels have their origin in the brain. The absence of a BDNF increase in serum after cognitive exercise in our experiment, suggests that this common assumption may not be true; considering the known role of BDNF in the brain, it would be surprising if BDNF levels in brain would not be affected by a memory training exercise...

PhD Krister Håkansson
Karolinska Institutet

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This page is a summary of: BDNF Responses in Healthy Older Persons to 35 Minutes of Physical Exercise, Cognitive Training, and Mindfulness: Associations with Working Memory Function, Journal of Alzheimer s Disease, November 2016, IOS Press,
DOI: 10.3233/jad-160593.
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