A liver-born messenger from exercise rejuvenates the brain’s defences
Research published in Cell reveals that a liver-derived factor, GPLD1, acts as a key mediator of exercise’s cognitive benefits. This “exerkine” was shown to reverse age-related and Alzheimer’s-associated memory loss by targeting and rejuvenating the integrity of the blood-brain barrier. The mechanism involves GPLD1 binding to GPI-anchored proteins on brain endothelial cells, restoring vascular function and subsequently improving cognitive performance in experimental models.
Why it might matter to you:
This work identifies a systemic, organ-to-organ communication axis that directly regulates neurovascular health, a frontier relevant to inflammatory conditions like IVD degeneration. The discovery that a circulating protein can therapeutically modulate the blood-brain barrier opens a conceptual pathway for developing non-invasive, cell-free therapies targeting central nervous system inflammation. For someone investigating transplantation and regenerative strategies, understanding such endogenous repair mechanisms could inform new approaches for protecting grafted tissues or cells from inflammatory damage.
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