Beneficial effects of moderate voluntary physical exercise and its biological mechanisms on brain health

Abstract

This article reviewed the beneficial effects of moderate voluntary physical exercise on brain health according to the studies on humans and animals, which includes improving psychological status and cognitive function, enhancing psychological well-being, decreasing the risks of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia, and promoting the effects of antidepressant and anxiolytic. The possible underlying neurobiological mechanisms are involved up-active and down-active pathways. The up-active pathway is associated with enhancements of several neurotransmitters systems afferent to hippocampus, including norepinephrine (NE), serotonin (5-Hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT), acetylcholine (ACh) and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). The down-active pathway is mainly concerned with up-regulation of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and neurogenesis. It is suggested that NE activation via β-adrenergic receptors may be essential for exercise-induced BDNF up-regulation. The possible intracellular signaling pathways of NE-mediated BDNF up-expression may be involved in GPCR-MAPK-PI-3K crosstalk and positive feedback.

Epigenetic mechanisms underlying the role of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in depression and response to antidepressants

“…The Journal of Experimental Biology (2015) (Ma, 2008). For instance, a growing body of evidence now clearly demonstrates the significant effects of exercise on post-stroke depressive symptoms in the early and late stages of recovery (Eng and Reime, 2014).…”

“…Originally established in cardiovascular health, voluntary exercise has now attracted great interest in the context of psychiatric disorders because of its numerous beneficial effects on brain health, cognitive function and psychological status (Ma, 2008). For instance, a growing body of evidence now clearly demonstrates the significant effects of exercise on post-stroke depressive symptoms in the early and late stages of recovery (Eng and Reime, 2014).…”

“…For instance, a growing body of evidence now clearly demonstrates the significant effects of exercise on post-stroke depressive symptoms in the early and late stages of recovery (Eng and Reime, 2014). The underlying neurobiological correlates are common with antidepressant treatments and mainly include the BDNF and monoaminergic systems (Ma, 2008). Notably, exercise remained ineffective in alleviating behavioral despair in the forced-swim test in BDNF heterozygous animals, indicating that the physiological levels of BDNF are required for the antidepressant effects of voluntary exercise (Duman et al, 2008).…”

Physical Exercise and Antidepressants Enhance BDNF Targeting in Hippocampal CA3 Dendrites: Further Evidence of a Spatial Code for BDNF Splice Variants

“…Increased central serotonergic and noradrenergic synaptic transmission is a common feature that physical exercise shares with the effects of antidepressants FLX and RBX (Ivy et al, 2003;Ma, 2008). Accordingly, we sought to verify if the two neurotransmitters 5-HT and NE were able to induce BDNF mRNA targeting in dendrites.…”

Unraveling molecular determinants of manual therapy: an approach to integrative therapeutics for the treatment of fibromyalgia and CFS/ME

“…The rationale behind their hypothesis derived from the observation that physical activities, regularly involving application of a mechanical load on the skeleton, seem to have a stimulatory role in pain control, neural regeneration and synthesis of neurotransmitters [58][59][60]. The authors show by using RT-qPCR, western-blot and immunohistochemistry analysis, that knee loading of 1 N at 5Hz for 1500 cycles and a 5 minute treadmill running (positive control) upregulated mRNA levels of tryptophan hydroxylase 2 (tph2) in the raphe nuclei of brain stem, the site of serotonin synthesis in the brain, in reference to sham load and 90 minute tail suspension (stressed negative control) [57].…”