Preventative and Therapeutic Approaches

Preventative and Therapeutic Approaches

1. Environmental Enrichment

   • Neural Plasticity: Hebb (1949)
     • repeated firing of one neurone by another leads to changes that increase efficiency
       • pet lab rats > lab rats
         • enriched animals have larger cages/groups, more complex interaction/environment
           • single factor cannot explain neural effects
     • Hubel & Wiesel
       • environmental stimulation elicits neural plasticity
   • adult brains and neonates
     • aids recovery from brain lesions
     • increases memory in aged
   • enrichment, or just activity?
     • Arousal hypothesis
       • Walsh & Cummins
       • Learning & memory hypothesis
         • Rozenzweig et al
       • Van Praag et al
         • Mouse study
     • delays innate decline

2. Exercise

   • Spirduso (1975)
     • exercise > age in RT reduction
   • Kramer et al (1999)
     • aerobic improved task performance
       • CV fitness implicated in relation between exercise and ageing
       • wide range of cognitive tasks
   • Colcombe et al (2004)
     • fMRI showed increased functioning of attentional network
       • greater task-related activity in pre-frontal and parietal areas
   • grey matter
     • Raji et al (2012)
       • burned calories = 5% more grey matter
         • memory and learning in particular

3. Lifestlye interactions

   • diet and physical activity
     • modifiable risk factors
       • Sodergren et al (2012)
         • FV/PA = ^ self-rated help
         • FV & ST increase in women/decrease in men
         • interaction unclear
           • very limited data

4. Cognition

   • The Nun Study
     • low linguistic ability = development of AD
       • those with additional cerebrovascular disease more likely to have AD
       • 80% AD
         • 10% AD anyway

5. Prevention and treatment strategies for AD

   • Factors
     • genetic
       • mutations/history
     • environmental
       • head injury/toxins
     • endogenous
       • diet, CV, smoking, education, IQA
         • some modifiable
   • Enrichment
     • Jankowsky et al (2005) - transgenic mice
       • Some AD neuropath without AD
   • Pharmacological treatment
     • none can cure, various alleviate symptoms
       • e.g. Citalopram
       • Cholinesterase inhibitors
         • increases acetylcholine - memory/learning
           • delay symptoms for 12mths in 50% of cases
         • side effects
           • nausea/vomiting/weight loss/muscle weakness
     • Oestrogen
       • improvement - due to antioxidants?
         • actively makes it worse
           • Raloxifene lowers risk
     • anti-flammatory drugs
       • inflammation key
         • lower AD
   • cardiovascular disease/exercise
     • risk factors
       • walking distance
   • exercise and grey matter
     • larger areas re: learning/memory
       • AD: exercise = > important grey matter
         • not cured