Pathological and Non-pathological Aging, Physical Activity, Genotype and Cognition

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an irreversible, progressive brain disease. It is the most common form of dementia and the major cause of functional dependence in the elderly. Since there is currently no cure for Alzheimer's disease, a growing number of scientists pointed out the interest to use non-pharmacological alternative therapeutic approaches in order to slow down the decline of physical and cognitive resources and improve quality of life of patients with Alzheimer's disease. Several narrative and meta-analytical reviews suggest that regular practice of physical activity delays the occurrence of cognitive decline and slows down Alzheimer's disease progress when compared with sedentary people. Despite the growing interest of the scientific community for the positive effects of chronic exercise on mental health and cognitive functions, the clinical reality of this phenomenon remains to be clearly established, more particularly in aged people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases.The first aim of this research project is to test if chronic exercise reduces and even compensates for a cognitive decline in both patients with prodromal Alzheimer's disease (i.e., no dementia) and aging people with no pathology of central nervous system. The second aim of this research project is to examine whether an increasing of cerebral blood flow induced by chronic exercise can explain this positive effect.