Bewegen tijdens de zwangerschap belangrijk*
Uit twee studies blijkt het belang van regelmatig bewegen kort voor en tijdens
de zwangerschap. Uit de ene studie weliswaar met muizen blijkt dat dat regelmatig bewegen tijdens de zwangerschap wel eens goed kan zijn voor de nakomelingen. Deze nakomelingen bleken later in hun leven veel minder kans te hebben op het krijgen van degeneratieve aandoeningen van de hersenen zoals de ziekte van
Alzheimer. Uit de andere studie nu met ratten blijkt dat regelmatig bewegen kort
voor en tijdens de zwangerschap zorgt voor een hoger aantal gezonde eiwitten
zoals Vasculaire Endotheliale Groeifactor (VEGF),
in feite een eiwit dat bloedvatgroei induceert en stimuleert en de
zwangerschapvariant van dit eiwit te weten PIGF. Uit eerdere studies is gebleken
dat onderdrukking van VEGF en PIGF kan leiden tot pre-eclampsie. Regelmatig
bewegen kan wellicht dus helpen pre-eclampsie te voorkomen.
Pregnant Women Who Exercise Protect Their Offspring Against Long-Term Neurodegenerative Diseases, Study Suggests
If you are pregnant, here's another reason to work out: you will reduce the chances of your new baby developing neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's, later in life. A new research report published online in The FASEB Journal shows that mice bred to develop a neurodegenerative disease roughly equivalent to Alzheimer's disease showed fewer signs of the disease and greater brain plasticity later in life when their mothers exercised regularly than those whose mothers did not exercise.
"This research provides an experimental rationale for the effects of beneficial behavioral stimuli experienced by the pregnant mother affecting the disease status of an as yet-unborn child. Epigenetic alterations (alterations in gene and protein expression caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence) provide a most probable mechanism by which mothers could have transferred their own behavioral experience to their progeny," said Kathy Keyvani, M.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Institute of Pathology and Neuropathology at the University Hospital Essen in Essen, Germany. "A better understanding of the underlying pathways may provide novel treatment and/or prevention strategies for Alzheimer's disease and bring more insight into the fascinating link between brain and behavior."
To make this discovery, Keyvani and colleagues mated male mice that express a mutant form of the APP gene found in some Alzheimer's patients with healthy female wild-type mice. After weaning, healthy and "Alzheimer-diseased" offspring were kept in standard cages for five months. Mouse brains were examined for signs of disease shortly thereafter. The "Alzheimer-diseased" mice whose mothers ran on a exercise wheel during pregnancy had fewer Beta-amyloid plaques, smaller plaque size, less inflammation, less oxidative stress, and a better functioning vascular network than those whose mothers did not run. Additionally, the mice whose mothers ran on the wheel also showed an up-regulation of plasticity-related molecules, which are indicators for more and better connections between the nerve cells.
"No one is resistant to the health benefits of exercise," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal, "and this research confirms that reasonable workouts can have a lifetime of benefits for your offspring. Whether you work out at home or go to the gym, you should do it for the sake of your health and that of your
offspring."
Exercise Before and During Early Pregnancy Increases Two Beneficial Proteins for Mothers-To-Be
Although exercise is generally considered to be a good thing for people with high blood pressure, it has traditionally been considered too risky for women who are also pregnant. Some studies suggest that exercise has benefits such as decreasing the risk of women developing preeclampsia, a condition that raises blood pressure to dangerously high levels but how this might happen has remained unknown. New research using an animal model falls into the "pro-exercise" camp: It suggests that exercise before conception and in the early stages of pregnancy may protect a mother-to-be by stimulating the expression of two proteins thought to play a role in blood vessel
health.
The study was led by Jeffrey Gilbert of the University of Oregon's Department of Human Physiology, while he was with the University of Minnesota Medical School. Dr. Gilbert will present the research at the Physiology of Cardiovascular Disease: Gender Disparities
conference at the University of Mississippi in Jackson. The conference is sponsored by the American Physiological Society with additional support from the American Heart Association. His presentation is entitled, "Exercise Training Before and During Pregnancy Improves Endothelial Function and Stimulates Cytoprotective and Antioxidant Pathways in the Pregnant Rat."
In the study, female rats were separated into two groups, the exercise group and the control group, and later impregnated. The exercise group ran voluntarily on an activity wheel for six weeks prior to and during pregnancy, with running times and distances monitored weekly. The control group did not exercise. The team analyzed tissue samples taken from both groups late in their
pregnancies.
The researchers found that the rats in the exercise group had higher levels of a circulating protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) than those in the control group. VEGF and a pregnancy specific version of the protein called placental growth factor (PlGF) are important because not only do they stimulate the development of new blood vessels, they also maintain normal vessel function which in turn promotes good cardiovascular health.
According to Dr. Gilbert, finding increased VEGF in the exercise group has important implications for understanding, and perhaps preventing, preeclampsia. He noted that clinical and experimental studies have found that high levels of a protein called sFlt-1 can bind up the mothers' circulating levels of PlGF and VEGF and can lead to
preeclampsia.
The researchers also saw that when VEGF increased, endothelial function increased. The endothelium is a thin layer of cells that line the inside of blood vessels. It reduces turbulence in blood flow, which allows blood to be pumped further with each heartbeat, thus taking stress off the
heart.
The team also found that the rats in the exercise group had increased amounts of heat shock proteins (HSPs) compared to those that did not exercise. One HSP in particular, HSP 90, is thought to play a vital role in maintaining the blood vessels of the heart. It works in sync with VEGF and nitric oxide to dilate blood vessels so that blood flows more freely, which lowers blood pressure. Increased expression of HSPs as a result of exercise could provide a preconditioning effect that may help protect against cellular damage in the placenta during pregnancies complicated by high blood pressure.
"There have been many studies about exercise and pregnancy, but not at the molecular level," said Dr. Gilbert. "We hope to learn whether stimulating these proteins with exercise before pregnancy or early during pregnancy can lower a woman's risk for preeclampsia."
(Oktober 2011)
Reacties:
