Connecting Mind-Body Therapy-Mediated Effects to Pathological Features of Alzheimer’s Disease
Issue title: Translational Research and Drug Discovery for Neurodegeneration: Challenges for Latin America
Guest editors: K.S. Jagannatha Rao, Gabrielle B. Britton, Luisa Lilia Rocha Arrieta, Norberto Garcia-Cairasco, Alberto Lazarowski, Adrián Palacios, Antoni Camins Espuny and Ricardo B. Maccioni
Affiliations: [a] División de Neurosciencias, Instituto de Fisiología Celular, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Ciudad Universitaria, Ciudad de México, México
| [b] Área Académica de Gerontología, Instituto de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Pachuca de Soto, México
Correspondence:
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Correspondence to: Susana Castro-Obregón, División de Neurosciencias, Instituto de Fisiología Celular, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Circuito Exterior SN, Ciudad Universitaria, CDMX 14250, México. Tel.: +52 55 56115676; E-mail: scastro@ifc.unam.mx.
Abstract: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a complex, multifactorial neurodegenerative disorder that represents a major and increasing global health challenge. In most cases, the first clinical symptoms of AD are preceded by neuropathological changes in the brain that develop years to decades before their onset. Therefore, research in the last years has focused on this preclinical stage of AD trying to discover intervention strategies that might, if implemented effectively, delay or prevent disease progression. Among those strategies, mind-body therapies such as yoga and meditation have gained increasing interest as complementary alternative interventions. Several studies have reported a positive impact of yoga and meditation on brain health in both healthy older adults and dementia patients. However, the underlying neurobiological mechanisms contributing to these effects are currently not known in detail. More specifically, it is not known whether yogic interventions, directly or indirectly, can modulate risk factors or pathological mechanisms involved in the development of dementia. In this article, we first review the literature on the effects of yogic practices on outcomes such as cognitive functioning and neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Then, we analyze how yogic interventions affect different risk factors as well as aspects of AD pathophysiology based on observations of studies in healthy individuals or subjects with other conditions than dementia. Finally, we integrate this evidence and propose possible mechanisms that might explain the positive effects of yogic interventions in cognitively impaired individuals.
