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. 2024 Apr 10;21(1):9.
doi: 10.1186/s11556-024-00344-9.

Resistance training's impact on blood biomarkers and cognitive function in older adults with low and high risk of mild cognitive impairment: a randomized controlled trial

Wouter A J Vints #  1   2   3 , Evrim Gökçe #  4 , Julija Šeikinaitė  5 , Simona Kušleikienė  6 , Vida J Česnaitienė  6 , Jeanine Verbunt  7   8 , Oron Levin  6   9 , Nerijus Masiulis  6   5
Affiliations

Resistance training's impact on blood biomarkers and cognitive function in older adults with low and high risk of mild cognitive impairment: a randomized controlled trial

Wouter A J Vints et al. Eur Rev Aging Phys Act. .

Abstract

Background: The aging brain exhibits a neuroinflammatory state, driven partly by peripheral pro-inflammatory stimuli, that accelerates cognitive deterioration. A growing body of evidence clearly indicates that physical exercise partly alleviates neuroinflammation and positively affects the aging process and cognition. In this randomized controlled trial, we aimed to observe the effect of 12 weeks of resistance training (RT) on peripheral biomarker levels, cognitive function changes and their interrelationship, and explore differences in those exercise-induced changes in older adults with high risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) compared to older adults with low risk of MCI.

Methods: Fifty-two participants (aged 60-85 years old, 28 female) were randomly allocated to a 12 week lower limb RT program consisting of two training sessions per week or waiting list control group. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was used to stratify participants screened as high (< 26/30) or low risk (≥ 26/30) of MCI. We assessed serum Interleukin 6 (IL-6), Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1), and Kynurenine (KYN) levels. Cognitive measurement consisted of and four subtests of Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (ANAM), the two-choice reaction time, go/no-go, mathematical processing, and memory search test.

Results: Twelve weeks of RT improved Go/No-go test results in older adults with high MCI risk. RT did not significantly affect blood biomarkers. However, IGF-1 level increases were associated with improvements in response time on the mathematical processing test in the exercise group, and IL-6 level increases were associated with improvements in response time on the memory search test in the total group of participants. Finally, KYN levels significantly differed between older adults with low and high MCI risk but no significant associations with performance were found.

Conclusion: Our study results suggest a different effect of RT on inhibitory control between older adults with low compared to high MCI risk. IGF-1 may play a role in the mechanism behind the cognitive benefit of RT and KYN may be a surrogate biomarker for neurodegeneration and cognitive decline.

Keywords: Aging; Cognition; Exercise; Inflammation; Mild cognitive impairment; Myokine; Neurotrophic factor; RCT; Resistance training.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Experimental flow chart. Abbreviations: MOCA, Montreal Cognitive Assessment; RM, repetition maximum
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Participant flow diagram. Please note that some participants enrolled in this project were excluded or dropped-out because of MRI scanning, while no MRI results are presented in this paper. Abbreviations: MCI, Mild cognitive impairment; MRI: Magnetic resonance imaging
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Bivariate relationship between pre-to-post changes in IGF-1 and changes in ANAM Mathematical processing response time (ms) in experimental group. Positive values mark increases from pre- to post test. Abbreviations: ANAM, Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics; IL-6, interleukin-6; MCI, mild cognitive impairment
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