Regular exercise during pregnancy prevents Alzheimer's in kids

 In their study, researchers have shown that mice bred to develop a neurodegenerative disease roughly equivalent to Alzheimer’s disease showed fewer signs of the disease and greater brain plasticity later in life when their mothers exercised regularly than those whose mothers did not exercise.

“This research provides an experimental rationale for the effects of beneficial behavioral stimuli experienced by the pregnant mother affecting the disease status of an as yet-unborn child.

“Epigenetic alterations  provide a most probable mechanism by which mothers could have transferred their own behavioral experience to their progeny,” said Kathy Keyvani at University Hospital Essen in Essen, Germany, who led the study.

She added: “A better understanding of the underlying pathways may provide novel treatment and/or prevention strategies for Alzheimer’s disease and bring more insight into the fascinating link between brain and behaviour.”

Keyvani and colleagues mated male mice that express a mutant form of the APP gene found in some Alzheimer’s patients with healthy female wild-type mice. After weaning, healthy and “Alzheimer-diseased” offspring were kept in standard cages for five months.