Muscle-Brain Connection: The Mechanism by Which Exercise Prevents Brain Function Decline

📖 Literature Information and Abstract Translation

Training muscles to keep the aging brain fit

[Review Summary] Maintaining normal muscle function and the muscle-brain axis as we age helps us stay physically and mentally healthy. In the race of life, a final sprint won't help you finish earlier, but instead, it allows you to enjoy the run for longer, with better metabolic, cardiovascular, muscular, and cerebral health.

■ Cellular and Molecular Changes Associated with Aging
・The "Cellular/molecular pillars of aging" shown in the center of the figure represent the primary molecular mechanisms of aging. These include the following elements, and these changes cause a decline in cellular and tissue function, leading to brain and muscle dysfunction.
- Macromolecular damage
- Dysregulated stress response
- Disruption in proteostasis
- Metabolic dysregulation
- Epigenetic drift
- Stem cell exhaustion
- Inflammaging

■ Brain Defense Mechanisms and Functional Improvement
・While these cellular and molecular changes are associated with brain function decline (cognitive impairment and dementia), exercise helps maintain brain health through the following defense mechanisms:
- Brain antioxidant and DNA damage defense: Protects the brain from oxidative stress and reduces cellular damage.
- Brain stress responses: Protects the brain from stress and maintains neuronal stability.
- Aggregation protection: Prevents the aggregation of abnormal proteins and reduces the risk of neurodegeneration.
- Mitochondria function and substrate utilization: Improves energy metabolism and maintains brain cell vitality.
- Epigenetic regulation: Prevents the deterioration of brain function through the regulation of gene expression.
- Neoneurogenesis: Promotes the generation of new neurons, supporting memory and learning ability.
- Reduced neuroinflammation: Suppresses brain inflammation and maintains neuronal health.

■ Brain and Muscle Functional Decline
・The right side shows that these changes lead to a decline in cognitive function and muscle function (muscle weakness and sarcopenia).
・These directly reflect the age-related deterioration of nerves and muscles.

■ Effects of Exercise
・"Regular exercise" shown at the bottom of the figure promotes the release of signaling molecules called "Regular exercise", which enhances these defense mechanisms."Exerkines" promotes the release of signaling molecules called "Exerkines," which enhance these defense mechanisms.
・In particular, "myokines (e.g., irisin)" released from muscles affect the brain and other organs, contributing to the maintenance of health.

■ Efficient communication between organs
・On the left side of the diagram, the mechanism by which exercise maintains overall health by promoting efficient communication between organs is highlighted.
・In particular, it shows that the muscle-brain axis between muscles and the brain is important for maintaining brain health through exercise.

🌱 So What?: What did I find interesting?

Exercise maintains and improves cognitive function.
It is one of the representative effects of "Exercise is Medicine."I have read several related papers so far (see related notes).

What exactly is the mechanism behind this?
This paper review illustrated that mechanism.
I was surprised that the mechanisms of change at the cellular and molecular levels have become this well understood.
When recommending exercise, I want to be able to talk about it with a clear image of the mechanism in mind.

⬇︎ Related notes & posts on 𝕏✨

○●━━━━━━━━━━━・・・‥ ‥ ‥ ‥
High-quality rehabilitation medicine-related English paper review "ARI"
Click here♪

↓↓↓

‥ ‥ ‥ ‥・・・━━━━━━━━━━━●
#️⃣ #PhysicalTherapy #ClinicalResearch #Research #Rehabilitation #EnglishPaper #LiteratureReview #EnglishLiteratureReview #Evidence #Science #DailyUpdate #RecentLearning