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Hartnett KB, Ferguson BJ, Hecht PM, Schuster LE, Shenker JI, Mehr DR, Fritsche KL, Belury MA, Scharre DW, Horwitz AJ, Kille BM, Sutton BE, Tatum PE, Greenlief CM, Beversdorf DQ. Potential Neuroprotective Effects of Dietary Omega-3 Fatty Acids on Stress in Alzheimer's Disease. Biomolecules 2023; 13:1096. [PMID: 37509132 PMCID: PMC10377362 DOI: 10.3390/biom13071096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2023] [Revised: 06/30/2023] [Accepted: 07/04/2023] [Indexed: 07/30/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND A large number of individual potentially modifiable factors are associated with risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, less is known about the interactions between the individual factors. METHODS In order to begin to examine the relationship between a pair of factors, we performed a pilot study, surveying patients with AD and controls for stress exposure and dietary omega-3 fatty acid intake to explore their relationship for risk of AD. RESULTS For individuals with the greatest stress exposure, omega-3 fatty acid intake was significantly greater in healthy controls than in AD patients. There was no difference among those with low stress exposure. CONCLUSIONS These initial results begin to suggest that omega-3 fatty acids may mitigate AD risk in the setting of greater stress exposure. This will need to be examined with larger populations and other pairs of risk factors to better understand these important relationships. Examining how individual risk factors interact will ultimately be important for learning how to optimally decrease the risk of AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaitlyn B Hartnett
- School of Medicine, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO 65212, USA
| | - Bradley J Ferguson
- Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO 65212, USA
- Department of Health Psychology, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO 65212, USA
- Department of Neurology, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO 65212, USA
| | - Patrick M Hecht
- Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO 65212, USA
| | - Luke E Schuster
- School of Medicine, University of Kansas, Kansas City, KS 66160, USA
| | - Joel I Shenker
- Department of Neurology, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO 65212, USA
| | - David R Mehr
- Family & Community Medicine, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO 65212, USA
| | - Kevin L Fritsche
- Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
| | - Martha A Belury
- Department of Human Sciences, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
| | - Douglas W Scharre
- Department of Neurology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
| | | | | | - Briann E Sutton
- College of Osteopathic Medicine, William Carey University, Hattiesburg, MS 39401, USA
| | - Paul E Tatum
- Division of Palliative Medicine; Washington University. St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | | | - David Q Beversdorf
- Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO 65212, USA
- Department of Neurology, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO 65212, USA
- Department of Radiology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65212, USA
- Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65212, USA
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Wallace MB, Costa AN, Ferguson BJ, Carey MA, Rzeppa C, Kille BM, Drysdale DR, Sutton BE, Shuler BH, Johnson RP, Kwenda EP, Hadley J, Snyders W, Beversdorf DQ. Pilot Study of the Effects of Paced Breathing on Measures of Convergent and Divergent Thinking. Cogn Behav Neurol 2023; 36:28-41. [PMID: 36735330 DOI: 10.1097/wnn.0000000000000334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2021] [Accepted: 06/27/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The ability of the autonomic nervous system's stress response to impair aspects of cognitive flexibility is known. However, the ability to modulate the sympathetic response and improve these cognitive impairments via nonpharmacological intervention, such as paced breathing (PB), requires further investigation. OBJECTIVE To better elucidate the effects of PB on cognition. METHOD We employed a PB protocol in a total of 52 healthy men and women and measured performance on convergent and divergent cognitive tasks, perceived stress, and physiological measures (eg, blood pressure, heart rate). Participants attended two experimental sessions consisting of either PB or normal breathing followed by cognitive assessments including convergent (compound remote associate, anagram) and divergent (alternate use, fluency) tasks. Experiment 2 consisted of more difficult versions of cognitive tasks compared with Experiment 1. RESULTS In Experiment 1, PB significantly reduced the female participants' systolic and diastolic blood pressure immediately after the breathing protocol without affecting their cognition. In Experiment 2, PB significantly reduced perceived stress immediately after the breathing protocol, regardless of sex. There was no effect on cognition in Experiment 2, but a correlation was observed between perceived stress change and anagram number solved change. CONCLUSION While PB modulates sympathetic activity in females, there was a lack of improvement in cognitive flexibility performance. At least for a single trial of PB, cognitive flexibility did not improve.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Bradley J Ferguson
- Health Psychology and Radiology, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri
| | | | | | | | - David R Drysdale
- Departments of Biology and Chemistry, St. Ambrose University, Davenport, Iowa
- University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, Missouri
| | | | - Brianne H Shuler
- School of Medicine, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri
- Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio
| | - Ryan P Johnson
- School of Medicine, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri
- Department of Neurology, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, Iowa
| | - Elizabeth P Kwenda
- Department of Urology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
- Department of Health Sciences, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee
| | - Jamie Hadley
- School of Medicine, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri
- Department of Surgery, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado
| | - Whitney Snyders
- School of Medicine, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado-Denver, Denver, Colorado
| | - David Q Beversdorf
- Departments of Radiology, Neurology, and Psychological Sciences, William and Nancy Thompson Endowed Chair in Radiology, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri
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