Musings

The beauty of movement

Even mice know that exercise does wonders for your neurons.

The power of the simple act of movement never ceases to amaze me.

Need to lose weight? Get your ass off the practice coffin (couch) and move.

Need to clear your mind? Get on your bike and break a sweat.

Need to hold a fatal disease at bay? Start running.

Yup, it’s true. New research coming out of the University of Oxford and the Howard Florey Institute shows that running in an exercise wheel delays the onset of some symptoms of Huntington’s disease in a mouse model of the fatal human disorder.

Woody Guthry eventually succumbed from
Huntington’s disease…as did his mother.

For those who are not familiar with the disease, Huntington’s causes disability and eventually death when affected people develop clusters of a defective protein in their neurons and shrinkage of brain areas associated with movement. Famed balladeer Woody Guthrie died from the disease and it was believed he had inherited from his mother, who had also succumbed to Huntington’s. And therein lies the rub: The disease doesn’t historically doesn’t reveal itself until after you’ve had children so it is easily passed from generation to generation.

An estimated one in 10,000 Americans has Huntington’s disease, with about 30,000 known cases in the United States. About 150,000 Americans may be at risk of inheriting Huntington’s disease from a parent.

The research team suggested that benefits stem from stimulation of neuronal receptors and other molecules that prolong normal function and delays motor deficits. In other words, exercise gets your noodle all fired up and lubricated.

Even more fascinating, particularly in light of the huge number of lard-ass kids we seem determined to send to an early grave with obesity-related diseases, was how the exercise affected young mice.

“Of particular interest was the fact that the wheel exercise was started in juvenile mice, much earlier than in a previous study that showed more limited protective effects of physical activity,” explains Anthony Hannan of the Howard Florey Institute.

Start them moving young and keep them moving.

Friends, there’s your dose of science for the day.

Ref: Wheel running from a juvenile age delays onset of specific motor deficits but does not alter protein aggregate density in a mouse model of Huntington’s disease. Anton van Dellen, Patricia M Cordery, Tara L Spires, Colin Blakemore and Anthony J Hannan. BMC Neuroscience (in press)