Exercise plasma dampens brain inflammation via clusterin and boosts memory

We discovered “runner” plasma, collected from voluntarily running mice, infused into sedentary mice recapitulates the cellular and functional benefits of exercise on the adult brain. Importantly, runner plasma reduces baseline neuroinflammatory gene expression and experimentally induced brain inflammation. Plasma proteomic analysis revealed a striking increase in complement cascade inhibitors including clusterin (CLU), which is facilitating the anti-inflammatory effects of runner plasma. Intravenously injected CLU strongly binds to brain endothelial cells reducing their inflammatory gene expression in an acute model of brain inflammation and in Alzheimer's disease model mice. These findings demonstrate the existence of anti-inflammatory “exercise factors” that are transferrable, target the cerebrovasculature and benefit the brain. Overall design: Identifying transcriptomic changes induced by exogenous clusterin on brain endothelial cells in two mouse models of acute (LPS) or chronic (APP) inflammation