{"id":7508,"date":"2016-01-31T10:51:05","date_gmt":"2016-01-31T10:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revoscience.com\/en\/?p=7508"},"modified":"2016-01-31T10:51:05","modified_gmt":"2016-01-31T10:51:05","slug":"common-growth-factor-in-brain-might-slow-cognitive-decline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/common-growth-factor-in-brain-might-slow-cognitive-decline\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Growth Factor in Brain Might Slow Cognitive Decline"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"shutterstock_155318618\"<\/a>With age, often comes mental decline, but a new study published in\u00a0Neurology<\/em><\/span><\/a>\u00a0points to potential neuroprotective effects from a common growth factor in the brain.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Researchers led by Aron S. Buchman, M.D. of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago examined the role of the gene called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, and its involvement in age-related cognitive decline.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the National Institutes of Health, BDNF gives instructions for creating a protein that is found in the brain and spinal cord that helps maintain and grow neurons.\u00a0 BDNF could be important for learning and memory as it helps regulate synaptic plasticity.<\/span><\/p>\n

The current study included 535 people who were all participants of the Rush Memory and Aging Project and the Religious Order Study.\u00a0 Participants had an average age of 81 and were followed until death, an average of six years. Each year participants took cognitive tests to measure their thinking and memory abilities.\u00a0 Following their death autopsies were performed and the levels of the protein from BDNF expression were measured.\u00a0 A neurologists went over medical records and determined whether participants had dementia, mild cognitive impairment, or no cognitive impairment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Results from the study found that people with more of the protein in their brain had slower rates of cognitive decline. Participants with the highest 10 percent of BDNF saw a rate of decline 50 percent slower than those with the lowest 10 percent of BDNF.<\/span><\/p>\n

[pullquote]Results from the study found that people with more of the protein in their brain had slower rates of cognitive decline.[\/pullquote]<\/p>\n

Effects of plaques and tangles in the brain, often seen as Alzheimer\u2019s disease hallmarks, were reduced in participants with high levels of BDNF.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis relationship was strongest among the people with the most signs of Alzheimer\u2019s disease pathology in their brains,\u201d Buchman said in a prepared statement. \u201cThis suggests that a higher level of protein from BDNF gene expression may provide a buffer, or reserve, for the brain and protect it against the effects of the plaques and tangles that form in the brain as a part of Alzheimer\u2019s disease.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Of the participants who had the highest level of plaques and tangles in the brain, those with the highest amounts of BDNF showed a 40 percent slower rate of cognitive decline compared to those with the lowest amount.<\/span><\/p>\n

Exercise can increase levels of BDNF in the blood, but it isn\u2019t yet clear what that means for BDNF protein levels in the brain, according to the researchers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Buchman noted that more research is needed to determine if increasing levels of BDNF gene expression in the brain protects against cognitive decline.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Researchers examined the role of the gene called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, and its involvement in age-related cognitive decline. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":7509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/shutterstock_155318618.jpg",336,336,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/shutterstock_155318618-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/shutterstock_155318618-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/shutterstock_155318618.jpg",336,336,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/shutterstock_155318618.jpg",336,336,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/shutterstock_155318618.jpg",336,336,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/shutterstock_155318618.jpg",336,336,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/shutterstock_155318618.jpg",336,336,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/shutterstock_155318618.jpg",336,336,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/shutterstock_155318618.jpg",336,336,false],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/shutterstock_155318618.jpg",336,336,false],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/shutterstock_155318618.jpg",336,336,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/shutterstock_155318618.jpg",336,336,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/shutterstock_155318618.jpg",65,65,false],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/shutterstock_155318618.jpg",336,336,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/shutterstock_155318618.jpg",96,96,false],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/shutterstock_155318618.jpg",150,150,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Amrita Tuladhar"]},"category_info":"Research<\/a>","tag_info":"Research","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}