Acute physical exercise (PE) is known to influence the expression of many neurobiological markers and cognitive functions, but the time course and domain-specificity of such effects remain under debat Show more
Acute physical exercise (PE) is known to influence the expression of many neurobiological markers and cognitive functions, but the time course and domain-specificity of such effects remain under debate. This study investigated whether a single bout of maximal incremental exercise can increase serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels, improving cognitive performance in healthy adults. Twenty-eight physically active males underwent a maximal incremental cycling test. BDNF serum concentrations were measured at three timepoints: before exercise, 15 min after, and 24 h post-exercise. Cognitive performance in verbal and visuo-spatial memory and convergent creative thinking was assessed before and 24 h post-exercise. Results showed a significant increase in serum BDNF 24 h after exercise, while no significant change was observed 15 min post-exercise. Cognitive assessments revealed improvements in verbal immediate recall and visuo-spatial working memory, but not in long-term verbal memory, visuo-spatial short-term memory, and convergent creative thinking. No significant correlations emerged between BDNF changes and cognitive performance changes. The dissociation between BDNF and behavior points to complex and likely time-dependent mechanisms underlying exercise-induced cognitive enhancements. These results support the effectiveness of acute PE as stimulus for BDNF neurotrophin production and as a non-pharmacological tool to boost specific cognitive functions, with implications for optimizing learning and cognitive performance in healthy populations. Show less
BAG3 is a co-chaperone of the heat shock protein (Hsp) 70, is expressed in many cell types upon cell stress, however, its expression is constitutive in many tumours. We and others have previously show Show more
BAG3 is a co-chaperone of the heat shock protein (Hsp) 70, is expressed in many cell types upon cell stress, however, its expression is constitutive in many tumours. We and others have previously shown that in neoplastic cells BAG3 exerts an anti-apoptotic function thus favoring tumour progression. As a consequence we have proposed BAG3 as a target of antineoplastic therapies. Here we identify a novel role for BAG3 in regulation of neo-angiogenesis and show that its downregulation results in reduced angiogenesis therefore expanding the role of BAG3 as a therapeutical target. In brief we show that BAG3 is expressed in endothelial cells and is essential for the interaction between ERK and its phosphatase DUSP6, as a consequence its removal results in reduced binding of DUSP6 to ERK and sustained ERK phosphorylation that in turn determines increased levels of p21 and p15 and cell-cycle arrest in the G1 phase. Show less