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. 2023 Jan 24:17:1108191.
doi: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1108191. eCollection 2023.

Aerobic exercise does not affect serum neurofilament light in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease

Kristian Steen Frederiksen  1 , Camilla Steen Jensen  1 , Peter Høgh  2   3 , Robert Gergelyffy  4 , Gunhild Waldemar  1   5 , Birgitte Bo Andersen  1 , Hanne Gottrup  6 , Karsten Vestergaard  7 , Lene Wermuth  8   9 , Helle Bach Søndergaard  10 , Finn Sellebjerg  10 , Steen Gregers Hasselbalch  1   5 , Anja Hviid Simonsen  1
Affiliations

Aerobic exercise does not affect serum neurofilament light in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease

Kristian Steen Frederiksen et al. Front Neurosci. .

Abstract

Introduction: Aerobic exercise has been shown to modify Alzheimer pathology in animal models, and in patients with multiple sclerosis to reduce neurofilament light (NfL), a biomarker of neurodegeneration.

Objective: To investigate whether a 16-week aerobic exercise program was able to reduce serum NfL in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Methods: This is a secondary analysis of data from the multi-center Preserving Cognition, Quality of Life, Physical Health, and Functional Ability in Alzheimer's disease: The Effect of Physical Exercise (ADEX) study. Participants were randomized to 16 weeks of moderate intensity aerobic exercise or usual care. Clinical assessment and measurement of serum NfL was done at baseline and after the intervention.

Results: A total of 136 participants were included in the analysis. Groups were comparable at baseline except for APOEε4 carriership which was higher in the usual care group (75.3 versus 60.2%; p = 0.04). There was no effect of the intervention on serum NfL [intervention: baseline NfL (pg/mL) 25.76, change from baseline 0.87; usual care: baseline 27.09, change from baseline -1.16, p = 0.09].

Conclusion: The findings do not support an effect of the exercise intervention on a single measure of neurodegeneration in AD. Further studies are needed using other types and durations of exercise and other measures of neurodegeneration.

Clinical trial registration: clinicaltrials.gov, identifier NCT01681602.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; dementia; exercise; intervention; neurodegeneration; neurofilament light.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Flow-chart for participants. Data available for analysis in present study refers to availability of serum neurofilament light at both baseline and follow-up.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Serum neurofilament light by exercise intensity. Boxplot of baseline (light gray) and follow-up measurements of neurofilament light chain for each group of exercise intensity achieved in the intervention group, and for the usual care group. There were no significant differences in changes from baseline to follow-up between groups.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Effect of number of APOE-ε4 alleles on neurofilament light. X-axis indicate number of APOE-ε4 alleles and y-axis change in serum concentration from baseline to follow-up in the intervention group. Negative values indicate a drop in serum NfL from baseline to follow-up.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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