Circulating levels of vascular endothelial growth factor in patients with Alzheimer's disease: A case-control study.

Background: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and platelets seem to reflect the Alzheimer's disease (AD) associated either with vascular impairment or disease. This study aimed to compare the circulating levels of VEGF and platelets between AD patients and healthy older adults.

Methods: Seventy-two older adults, divided in 40 older adults (Clinical Dementia Rating Scale - CDR = 0); and 32 Alzheimer's disease patients (clinically diagnosed - CRD = 1) participated in the present study.

Aerobic Training and Circulating Neurotrophins in Alzheimer's Disease Patients: A Controlled Trial.

Objective: to verify the effects of aerobic exercise training in circulating BDNF, VEGF and IGF-1 plasma levels and cognitive function in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) patients.

Methods: 34 AD patients participated in the study, divided in two groups: Control Group (CG; n = 16) and Training Group (TG; n = 18 - Moderate aerobic training on the treadmill, three times a week, for 12 weeks). BDNF, VEGF and IGF-1 plasma levels were considered as a primary outcome.

Acute exercise increases circulating IGF-1 in Alzheimer's disease patients, but not in older adults without dementia.

Objectives: Increased Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-1) has been associated with improvement of cognitive function in response to exercise. Evidences indicate a role for IGF-1 in beta-amyloid clearance and reducing hyperphosphorylation tau in Alzheimer's disease (AD). There is a need to investigate the IGF-1 response to exercise in AD patients due to well-known potential effects of exercise on IGF-1.

Wheel running during chronic nicotine exposure is protective against mecamylamine-precipitated withdrawal and up-regulates hippocampal α7 nACh receptors in mice.

Background And Purpose: Evidence suggests that exercise decreases nicotine withdrawal symptoms in humans; however, the mechanisms mediating this effect are unclear. We investigated, in a mouse model, the effect of exercise intensity during chronic nicotine exposure on nicotine withdrawal severity, binding of α4β2*, α7 nicotinic acetylcholine (nAChR), μ-opioid (μ receptors) and D dopamine receptors and on brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and plasma corticosterone levels.

Experimental Approach: Male C57Bl/6J mice treated with nicotine (minipump, 24 mg·kg ·day ) or saline for 14 days underwent one of three concurrent exercise regimes: 24, 2 or 0 h·day voluntary wheel running.

Effects of environmental enrichment upon ethanol-induced conditioned place preference and pre-frontal BDNF levels in adolescent and adult mice.

Environmental enrichment (EE) provides a non-pharmacological tool to alter drug-induced reward, yet its effects on ethanol-induced reward remain controversial. We analyzed adolescent vs. adult (mice) differences in the influence of EE on ethanol-induced conditioned place preference (CPP).

Acute aerobic exercise increases brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels in elderly with Alzheimer's disease.

Studies indicate the involvement of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Decreased BDNF levels may constitute a lack of trophic support and contribute to cognitive impairment in AD. The benefits of acute and chronic physical exercise on BDNF levels are well-documented in humans, however, exercise effects on BDNF levels have not been analyzed in older adults with AD.