
Blood platelets activated during exercise increase neurogensis: mouse study - prostoalex
https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/a-new-role-for-platelets--boosting-neurogenesis-after-exercise--65630
======
basetop
The neverending mouse studies that rarely apply for humans.

"Misleading mouse studies waste medical resources"

[https://www.nature.com/news/misleading-mouse-studies-
waste-m...](https://www.nature.com/news/misleading-mouse-studies-waste-
medical-resources-1.14938)

"Why animal studies are often poor predictors of human reactions to exposure"

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2746847/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2746847/)

"Drugs That Work In Mice Often Fail When Tried In People"

[https://www.npr.org/sections/health-
shots/2017/04/10/5227754...](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-
shots/2017/04/10/522775456/drugs-that-work-in-mice-often-fail-when-tried-in-
people)

Not sure what the answer is to human medical testing and research since
experimenting on humans is unethical. But mice shouldn't stand in for humans
for human research since mice and humans are very different. I wonder how
scientists in the future will look upon using mice for human medical research.

~~~
DanBC
My current favourite twitter account is
[https://twitter.com/justsaysinmice](https://twitter.com/justsaysinmice)

~~~
pazimzadeh
Yes, that's a great way of staying on the cutting edge of basic science in
mammals.

------
thesz
What is interesting is to see effect size. For example, exercise would produce
huge effect in blood content that transports oxygen and relatively small
effect on brain-derived neurotrophic factor. For humans BDNF measures in 39
nanogramms per millilitre [1] - it is highly dissolved. I seriously doubt that
masspectrometry can handle this.

[1]
[https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2013/901082/](https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2013/901082/)

Also, [2] - the BDNF level for sprint runners is more than 5 (five) times
higher than of sedentiary people for Olympic team members.

[2]
[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51658551_Increased_...](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51658551_Increased_basal_plasma_brain-
derived_neurotrophic_factor_levels_in_sprint_runners)

I guess the ability to run marathon every night can easily put one into
Olympic team. ;)

------
hourislate
My take away from all the 1000's of articles and studies I've read on health
is:

Eat __real food __(Not processed. (ex: eggs, fish, meat, fowl, vegetables,
some fruit)) and __not so much __.

Don't smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol.

Exercise daily (even if it's just a brisk walk for 30 mins).

Find time to meditate (rest your mind) for a few minutes a day, even day
dreaming for 5-10 minutes is great.

Try to get a good nights sleep (approx 7 hours for an adult).

Try to Fast at least 12-16 hours a day (typically over night while you sleep,
6 pm to 10 am).

Seems like it should be easy but somehow we still make it complicated.

~~~
ohaideredevs
I am not convinced on the fasting point, still feels like a fad to me. What
made you adopt it?

~~~
1e-9
There is an accelerating level of evidence that fasting results in decreased
rates of disease and increased longevity. In particular, it appears that
having the body in a fat-burning mode during sleep facilitates more effective
cellular maintenance and repair. Note that fasting is not calorie restriction.
Calories can still be normal. The key point seems to be having long periods of
no eating. There is even evidence that having just one meal a day (breakfast)
might be the best schedule of all. I would not call any of it definitive, but
I have found the studies more than compelling enough to change my own eating
habits and encourage friends and family to do likewise.

------
napo
(There's a typo on HN's title, the last "e" is missing in neurogenesis)

------
shishy
The study suggests that platelet 4, which is elevated when running, influences
neurogenesis.

Do we know if platelet 4 is only increased during running? What about weight
lifting for example?

~~~
anu7df
Weight lifting mice! Now that I would like to see. Ethics be damned

~~~
mises
It's not a bad question. Does it have to be cardio? Isometric exercise? I've
heard a lot of buzz about high-impact interval training; does that work? The
questions do need answering, and though mice may not provide the full answer,
they can still provide _some_ information, and maybe enough for more research
to be funded.

------
gvand
I wonder if someone has ever applied some of these studies (that sometimes
show an increased lifespan from 30% to 60%) with the sole intent to obtain a
super mouse with incredibly long lifespan and some other incredible
characteristics.

~~~
JamesBarney
I think you'll be interested in
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methuselah_Foundation](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methuselah_Foundation)

In 2003, the organization was made public as the Methuselah Foundation at the
32nd Annual Meeting of the American Aging Association,[7] where they awarded
the first Methuselah Mouse Prize to Andrej Bartke for his work on mice that
lived the equivalent of 180 human years.

------
bigDICK
There are so many things that cause neurogenesis. It's not really that
impressive unless the effect is strong. In that case though it could be
dangerous or not optimal to intelligence.

------
joss82
... in mice.

~~~
DoreenMichele
...that are running the equivalent of a marathon every night.

~~~
TheSpiceIsLife
I don't know how they can claim to make this comparison.

Do an image search for _mouse skeleton_ and compare to _dog skeleton_.

These creatures are hyper specialised to _run_ pretty much nonstop all day
every day, as evidenced by the fact that lab mice will _voluntarily_ run 10km
when present with a mouse wheel and _no prior training_.

Human running is bound to be _way more laborious_.

The comparison is nonsense.

I agree with your broader point though.

Edit to add: My previous pup, a Border Collie x German Shorthaired Pointed,
after only five introductory sessions, would _voluntarily_ get on the
treadmill we had set up for her.

There is something inherently different about these creatures. One of my pet
theories of why they don't live as long is because they're brains are
hardwired to make them act like they're on MDMA and amphetamine all the time.

~~~
jxcl
My prior reading contradicts this idea.

It's my understanding that humans, being bipedal rather than quadrupedal, are
more efficient runners[0]. Quadrupeds have the advantage over short distances
[like dwarves, they are natural sprinters [1]], but their metabolism is not
suited to endurance running. They lack sweat glands necessary to cool their
bodies over long periods of exertion as well.

There are hypotheses of early humans hunting by purely chasing down their prey
during the hottest part of the day and into hyperthermia.[2]

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endurance_running_hypothesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endurance_running_hypothesis)

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4qZrPX60bw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4qZrPX60bw)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_hunting#In_humans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_hunting#In_humans)

~~~
TheSpiceIsLife
Is there any evidence to suggest that humans have ever preyed upon other apex
predators?

I'm finding it hard to imagine humans would hunt down wild dogs / cats for
food.

Additionally, if lab mice can _voluntarily_ run 10km in an evening, doesn't
that alone shoot holes in this theory? My understanding was the theory
indicated humans could outrun grazing animals.

A quick search shows the Australian Kelpie can run 60km in a work day, and
apparently the Australian Dingo has been know to travel 40km in a day.

Here's an article[1] about long distance runners having canine companions
because their human friends couldn't keep up.

1\. [https://www.runnersworld.com/advanced/a20836779/super-
distan...](https://www.runnersworld.com/advanced/a20836779/super-distance-
dogs/)

