Aging and Exercise Impacts on Glymphatic Function

Overview

This is a prospective, interventional, non-blinded, single center research project that will recruit cognitively unimpaired subjects in the 25-55 year old and 55-75 year old range. This study will use acute aerobic exercise as a natural intervention model to increase cardiac activity which may further drive the glymphatic function. There will be no randomization, and all enrolled subjects will participate in the exercise session. Hypotheses: revealed by the multi-modal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) approach, glymphatic dysfunction increases with age and is associated with preclinical Alzheimer's Disease (AD) pathology in cognitively unimpaired individuals. Using acute aerobic exercise as a human model, the enhancement of cerebrospinal fluid-interstitial fluid (CSF-ISF) exchange caused by elevated cardiac activity and paravascular cerebrospinal fluid (pCSF) dynamics can be validated.

The purpose of this research study is to understand how the human brain removes amyloid beta (Aβ) protein which can lead to Alzheimer's disease (AD), using non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques. Participants will first go through screening including health survey and blood draw. Depending on their age, enrolled participants will take neuropsychological assessment, sleep and quality-of-life survey, exercise testing, MRI and positron emission tomography (PET) scans. Depending on individual age, the study may include up to three separate visits, a blood draw, an MRI visits and a PET scan visit. The greatest risks of this study include the possibility of injury during the exercise testing, MRI and PET scans, and loss of confidentiality.