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Principal Investigator: OWEN T. CARMICHAEL
Organization: LSU PENNINGTON BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH CTR
Fiscal Year: 2024
Award: $719,854
Funding agency: National Institute on Aging
Abstract
Alzheimer's Disease is steadily growing in prevelance, with a devastating public health impact. The prevelance
of Alzheimer's Disease is higher in African Americans compared to white Americans, thereby constituting a
health disparity. Interventions that prevent Alzheimer's Disease or change the course of cognitive decline
associated with Alzheimer's Disease are needed. Most older adults do not achieve the recommended levels of
physical activity, and this includes African Americans. Regular physical activity has proven to be a safe and
effective means to enhance cognitive function in older adults ranging from cognitively healthy to mildly
cognitively impaired. Therefore our study is focused on physical activity promotion, a potent approach to
modifying multiple neurobiological pathways implicated in Alzheimer's Disease. We evaluate exercise benefits
among elderly African Americans, who are understudied and in whom the natural course of
neurodegeneration, exercise effects in neuroprotection and neurodegeneration, and resulting clinical
phenotypes may differ. A large body of exisiting data suggests that exercise improves cardiovascular and
cerebrovascular functioning, and thus has the potential to enhance perivascular clearance of amyloid and
reduce chronic brain tissue ischemia, among other beneficial effects. At the same time, chronic exercise has
been shown to decrease central levels of inflammatory markers and increase central levels of neurotrophic
factors, which in turn promote protection against Alzheimer's Disease neurodegeneration pathways via a
variety of mechanisms. While physical activity interventions have been shown to have positive effects on these
factors and on resultant cognitive functioning in older adults, nearly all interventions have had a negligible
representation of African Americans. Prior dara suggests that African Americans enter their elderly years
against a backdrop of different lifespan exposures to a variety of factors relevant to neuroprotection and
neurodegeneration, including cardiovascular risk, exercise, diet, and education. In addition, prior data suggests
that the key genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's Diease (APOE) may have differing consequences for
Alzheimer's Diease risk among African Americans, and other genetic differences have the potential to
influence the brain benefits of physical activity in this community. We will utilize a randomized clinical trial to
address these questions. Participants will be randomized into a physical promotion intervention or a healthy
aging information group for 52 weeks. All participants will be of normal cognitive function. We will assess
cognitive function, brain structure and function, circulating hormones, objectively measured physical activity,
cardiorespiratory fitness, and telomere length. Our study will take the first step toward understanding whether
the hypothesized benefits of exercise for the brain carry over to elderly African Americans.
Terms: <21+ years old><AD dementia><AD prevention><Address><Adult><Adult Human><African American><African American group><African American individual><African American people><African American population><African Americans><Afro American><Afroamerican><Alzheimer Type Dementia><Alzheimer disease dementia><Alzheimer disease prevention><Alzheimer prevention><Alzheimer risk factor><Alzheimer sclerosis><Alzheimer syndrome><Alzheimer's><Alzheimer's Disease><Alzheimer's disease risk><Alzheimers Dementia><Ammon Horn><Amyloid><Amyloid Substance><Anti-Inflammatories><Anti-Inflammatory Agents><Anti-inflammatory><Auditory><BDNF><Base Sequence><Basic Research><Basic Science><Biologic Factor><Biological Factors><Blood><Blood Reticuloendothelial System><Blood Vessels><Brain><Brain Nervous System><Brain Vascular><Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor><Cardiovascular><Cardiovascular Body System><Cardiovascular Organ System><Cardiovascular system><Caucasian><Caucasian Race><Caucasians><Caucasoid><Caucasoid Race><Cerebrovascular Circulation><Cerebrum><Chromosomes><Chronic><Clinical><Cognitive><Cognitive Disturbance><Cognitive Impairment><Cognitive decline><Cognitive function abnormal><Communities><Control Groups><Cornu Ammonis><Dancing><Data><Diet><Disturbance in cognition><Education><Educational aspects><Effectiveness><Elderly><Encephalon><Endocrine Gland Secretion><Episodic memory><Ethnic Group><Ethnic People><Ethnic Population><Ethnic individual><Ethnicity People><Ethnicity Population><Exclusion><Exercise><Exposure to><Functional MRI><Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging><Genetic predisposing factor><Goals><Heart Vascular><Hippocampus><Hormones><Human><IGF-1><IGF-I><IGF-I-SmC><Impaired cognition><Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1><Insulin-Like Growth Factor I><Insulin-Like Somatomedin Peptide I><Intervention><Intervention Strategies><Ischemia><Knowledge><Learning><Length><Link><Literature><MR Imaging><MR Tomography><MRI><MRIs><Magnetic Resonance Imaging><Measures><Medical Imaging, Magnetic Resonance / Nuclear Magnetic Resonance><Memory><Modern Man><NIH><NMR Imaging><NMR Tomography><National Institutes of Health><Nerve Degeneration><Neurobiology><Neuron Degeneration><Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging><Nucleotide Sequence><Occidental><Other Genetics><Outcome Measure><Participant><Pathway interactions><Perfusion><Physical activity><Physiologic><Physiological><Population><Prevalence><Primary Senile Degenerative Dementia><Public Health><Randomized><Randomized, Controlled Trials><Recommendation><Research><Research Design><Risk><Risk Factors><Risk Reduction><Somatomedin C><Structure><Study Type><Target Populations><Testing><Therapeutic Hormone><Time><Treatment Efficacy><United States National Institutes of Health><VO2 max><VO2max><White Matter Hyperintensity><Work><Zeugmatography><adulthood><advanced age><alzheimer risk><blood flow in brain><brain blood circulation><brain blood flow><brain tissue><cardiorespiratory fitness><cardiorespiratory health><cardiovascular risk><cardiovascular risk factor><caucasian American><cerebral><cerebral blood flow><cerebral circulation><cerebral vascular><cerebro-vascular><cerebrocirculation><cerebrovascular><cerebrovascular blood flow><circulating biomarkers><circulating markers><circulatory system><clinical phenotype><cognitive dysfunction><cognitive enhancement><cognitive function><cognitive loss><determine efficacy><diets><disparity in health><efficacy analysis><efficacy assessment><efficacy determination><efficacy evaluation><efficacy examination><ethnic subgroup><ethnicity group><evaluate efficacy><examine efficacy><executive control><executive function><exercise intervention><exercise training><fMRI><fitness><genetic risk factor><geriatric><group intervention><health disparity><healthy aging><healthy human aging><hippocampal><improved><inflammation marker><inflammatory marker><inherited factor><intervention effect><intervention efficacy><intervention refinement><interventional strategy><life span><lifespan><maximal oxygen uptake><measurable outcome><mild cognitive disorder><mild cognitive impairment><moderate-to-vigorous physical activity><neural degeneration><neurobiological><neurodegeneration><neurodegenerative><neurological degeneration><neuronal degeneration><neuroprotection><neuroprotective><neurotrophic factor><neurotrophin><neutrophin><nucleic acid sequence><older adult><older adulthood><outcome measurement><pathway><physical activity intervention><prevent><preventing><primary degenerative dementia><primary outcome><programs><randomisation><randomization><randomized control trial><randomized, clinical trials><randomly assigned><recruit><reduce risk><reduce risks><reduce that risk><reduce the risk><reduce these risks><reduces risk><reduces the risk><reducing risk><reducing the risk><risk-reducing><senile dementia of the Alzheimer type><senior citizen><study design><telomere><therapeutic efficacy><therapy efficacy><trial design><vascular><white American><white race>