The team led by Prof. Lin Zhu\u00a0from Guangzhou Sport University\u00a0have demonstrated that 4-week low-intensity treadmill exercise before the onset of an ischemic stroke can significantly reduce brain injury and improve neurological outcomes.<\/p>\n
This\u00a0study, published in Translational Exercise Biomedicine\u00a0(ISSN: 2942-6812), an official partner journal of International Federation of Sports Medicine (FIMS), offers a promising, non-pharmacological strategy for the millions of people\u00a0worldwide\u00a0at risk of this debilitating condition.<\/p>\n
Ischemic stroke, caused by a blockage in blood flow to the brain, remains a leading cause of death and long-term disability worldwide. Although\u00a0treatments like thrombolysis are available, narrow time windows significantly limit their therapeutic effects. This has led scientists to explore proactive, preventive measures\u00a0against stroke.<\/p>\n
The research team investigated the concept of exercise preconditioning\u00a0using regular physical activity to build the brain’s resilience against a future injury. The study focused on low-intensity exercise, more accessible and sustainable for at-risk populations, particularly the elderly.<\/p>\n
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Our study provides robust evidence that even low-intensity exercise can precondition the brain to be more resistant to the devastating effects of an ischemic stroke.\u00a0The beauty of this approach is its practicality,\u00a0it doesn’t require strenuous activity, making it a viable strategy for older adults or those with physical limitations\u00a0or at risk of stroke.”<\/p>\n
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Lin Zhu, Study Team Leader and Professor,\u00a0Shanghai Jiao Tong University<\/p>\n
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The researchers\u00a0established\u00a0a transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO) mouse model, the standard for simulating human ischemic stroke. Twelve-week-old male mice were divided into three groups: healthy control group (Sham), stroke group (tMCAO), and exercise\u00a0preconditioning\u00a0group (Ex+tMCAO) that underwent four weeks of low-intensity treadmill running, 10 m\/min for one hour a day, five days a week, before the stroke was induced.<\/p>\n
The results were striking. At 24\u00a0hours after the stroke, the mice that had exercised showed\u00a0significantly reduced infarct size.\u00a0Brain tissue death was markedly lower compared to the non-exercised stroke group.\u00a0In addition, the exercised mice exhibited a higher density of CD31-positive microvessels, indicating improved formation of new blood vessels in the brain, which is crucial for recovery and supplying oxygen to stressed tissues.<\/p>\n
Exercise preconditioning\u00a0also\u00a0dramatically reduced the apoptosis in neurons.\u00a0At the molecular level, the exercised mice showed significantly lower expression of key pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in the brain, including IL-6, CCL11, CCL2, CXCL1, and Fosl1. These factors are known to exacerbate brain damage by recruiting immune cells and triggering harmful inflammatory cascades.\u00a0While the exercise group showed a trend toward improved performance on motor coordination tests, like the rotarod\u00a0test, the improvements were not statistically significant at the 24-hour mark, suggesting that while tissue damage is reduced, functional recovery may take a longer period of time.<\/p>\n
Co-corresponding author Prof. Xiaoguang Liu\u00a0added, “We were excited to see the down-regulation of multiple inflammatory pathways. This confirms that exercise preconditioning not only\u00a0just act through one mechanism, but\u00a0also\u00a0creates a broad, protective environment in the brain\u00a0by simultaneously boosting repair mechanisms like angiogenesis and suppressing inflammation<\/a> and apoptosis.”<\/p>\n However, the authors acknowledge several limitations. The study was conducted only using\u00a0young male mice, and female and aged models are needed to validate the results. Furthermore, though\u00a0gene expression for inflammatory markers was measured, protein-level confirmation is needed to confirm\u00a0the mechanistic conclusions.\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite these limitations, the findings have profound implications for public health. They suggest that encouraging regular, gentle physical activity, such as a brisk walk, could serve as an effective, low-cost preventive medicine against stroke.<\/p>\n This is especially relevant given the rising incidence of stroke in younger adults and the aging global population.\u00a0Besides, this\u00a0study also has certain\u00a0translational significance. Building a “brain reserve” through consistent, manageable exercise could be one of the most effective ways to reduce global burden of ischemic stroke. It transforms the concept of exercise from a rehabilitative tool to a powerful preemptive\u00a0exercise medicine.<\/p>\n Source:<\/p>\n Shanghai Jiao Tong University<\/a><\/p>\n Journal reference:<\/p>\n Chen, P., et al. (2026). Low-intensity treadmill exercise preconditioning alleviates post-ischemic stroke injury in mice by inhibiting ischemia-induced inflammation and apoptosis. Translational Exercise Biomedicine. DOI: 10.1515\/teb-2025-0029. https:\/\/www.degruyterbrill.com\/document\/doi\/10.1515\/teb-2025-0029\/html<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The team led by Prof. Lin Zhu\u00a0from Guangzhou Sport University\u00a0have demonstrated that 4-week low-intensity treadmill exercise before the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[15089,4730,2991,84,420,1348,103,61,9480,60,21167,1357,10556,89,11602,6940],"class_list":{"0":"post-329706","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-apoptosis","9":"tag-biomedicine","10":"tag-blood","11":"tag-brain","12":"tag-disability","13":"tag-exercise","14":"tag-health","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-inflammation","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-ischemic-stroke","19":"tag-medicine","20":"tag-physical-activity","21":"tag-research","22":"tag-sports-medicine","23":"tag-stroke"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}