BDNF response in serum from physical exercise in elderly humans.
What is it about?
This study showed that 35 minutes of physical exercise created a 25% increase of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in serum. After the same amount of cognitive training or mindfulness the same persons did not show any common changes of their BDNF levels. The experiment was performed on 19 healthy elderly persons in Sweden.
Why is it important?
BDNF is a protein of importance for learning and creation of synapses between neurons. But BDNF can also be produced in other parts of the body than the brain. As we measured BDNF in serum only after 35 minutes of training, we cannot be sure that the origin of the BDNF we measured actually came from the brain. However, we also found that the BDNF increases correlated with differences in working memory performance between the 19 individuals. If it can be assumed that BDNF plays a central role in memory processes, this result suggests that the ability to respond with a BDNF increase to physical exericse may somehow be associated with BDNF functionality also in the brain.