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Fitness & Exercise for Senior Citizens
First Proof that Exercise Creates New Cells in Brain
Area Affecting Age-Related Memory Loss
MRI imaging at Columbia provides first observation of
new nerve cells
 March
19, 2007 – A researcher that focuses on Alzheimer’s disease and the
aging brain is the lead author of a newly released study that proves
exercise actually creates new nerve cells in the area of the brain that
affects age-related memory decline.
Previous research has shown that people who
exercise do better on memory tests. The new Columbia University Medical
Center study, however, explains specifically what exercise does within
the brain. Exercise, the researchers found, targets a region of the
brain within the hippocampus, known as the dentate gyrus, which
underlies normal age-related memory decline that begins around age 30
for most adults.
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This finding is significant because it was
accomplished via the first-ever observation of neurogenesis, the growth
of neurons or nerve cells, within a living brain. These cells transmit
nerve impulses and form the basic functional unit of the nervous system.
Using an MRI imaging technique developed at
Columbia, the researchers were able to identify neurogenesis within the
dentate gyrus region following exercise. Previously, researchers were
only able to prove neurogenesis upon postmortem exam in animal studies.
"No previous research has systematically examined
the different regions of the hippocampus and identified which region is
most affected by exercise," said Scott A. Small, M.D., associate
professor of neurology at Columbia University Medical Center and the
study's lead author.
"I, like many physicians, already encourage my
patients to get active and this adds yet another reason to the long list
of reasons why exercise is good for overall health," added Small.
The finding builds upon previous research at
Columbia that identified the role of the dentate gyrus region of the
hippocampus in normal age-related memory decline.
Additionally, Fred "Rusty" Gage, Ph.D. of the Salk
Institute, a lead co-investigator on this study, had demonstrated in
mice that the dentate gyrus is the one area of the brain where new
neurons are generated, and that exercise improves this process. This is
the first human study to emerge out of this observation.
"Our next step is to identify the exercise regimen
that is most beneficial to improve cognition and reduce normal memory
loss, so that physicians may be able to prescribe specific types of
exercise to improve memory," said Dr. Small, who is also a research
scholar at the Columbia University Taub Institute for Research on
Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain.
Editor’s Notes:
Study was published in the March 12-16, 2007 early
online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
Additional Columbia researchers who contributed to
this study include: Ana C. Pereira, Rene Hen, Dan E. Huddleston, Adam M.
Brickman, Alexander A. Sosunov, Guy M. McKhann, Truman R. Brown and
Richard Sloan.
The Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's
Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical Center is a
multidisciplinary group that has forged links between researchers and
clinicians to uncover the causes of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other
age-related brain diseases and discover ways to prevent and cure these
diseases. It has partnered with the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center at
Columbia University Medical Center which was established by an endowment
in 1977 to focus on diseases of the nervous system. The Center
integrates traditional epidemiology with genetic analysis and clinical
investigation to explore all phases of diseases of the nervous system.
For more information about these centers visit:
http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/dept/taub/,
http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/dept/sergievsky/.
Columbia University Medical Center provides
international leadership in basic, pre-clinical and clinical research,
in medical and health sciences education, and in patient care. The
medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of
many physicians, scientists, nurses, dentists, and public health
professionals at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, the College of
Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the Mailman School of Public
Health, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and
Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions.
http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/.
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