Moderate and regular exercise may help prevent age-related blindness, a recent study found.
Published in the journal of Neuroscience, the study looked at the effects of exercise on vision using two groups of mice. The first group was placed on rodent treadmills set at a moderate pace for one hour, five days a week. The second group of mice was placed on treadmills that were inactive for the same amount of time. After two weeks, the researchers involved in the study exposed the mice to a toxic light that killed the light-sensing cells in their retinas to induce macular degeneration.
After two more weeks of observation, researchers evaluated the retinal function of the mice in each of the two groups and found that in the first group, the mice had retained twice as much retinal function as the inactive group.
"We were surprised. This is as much protection as we've seen with other types of neuroprotectives we've worked with in the past," said researcher Machelle T. Pardue, associate professor of opthamology at Emory University School of Medicine and research career scientist at Atlanta VA Medical Center.
As of late, the primary form of treatment available for patients suffering from macular degeneration involves injections of anti-VEGF drugs. This helps stop the growth of abnormal blood vessels, which causes damage directly into the eye. Pardue and her team believe exercise interventions appear to be effective in part because it triggers an increase in brain-derived neurotrophic factor - a type of protein that supports nerve growth.
"Our data would certainly indicate that exercise would benefit the eyes and other things too, such as cognitive function. You could hardly go wrong signing up for the gym," Pardue suggests.
