ANU researchers have discovered molecular signals in the body that could lead to an “exercise in a pill” supplement for patients incapable of physical activity. The futuristic therapy could one day help patients suffering from neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Associate Professor Riccardo Natoli, Head of Clear Vision Research at ANU, said the molecules could be hijacked, recoded, and “bottled up” in a pill, and taken like a vitamin.

“The beneficial messages being sent to the central nervous system during exercise are packaged up in what are known as lipid particles,” he said. “We are essentially prescribing the molecular message of exercise to those who physically aren’t able to.”

“It’s been suggested that prescribing exercise to patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s can help improve and slow down the disease progression,” said Dr Joshua Chu-Tan, also from the ANU Clear Vision Research Lab.

“We know that from looking at diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s if you exercise in a particular fashion, you can potentially stimulate neuronal activity. 

“That hasn’t really been looked at in the retina at the level we’re thinking of. We want to understand the molecular messages that underpin the benefits of exercise.”

The researchers say the supplement would be intended only for patients who have restricted movement that renders them unable to exercise at an intensity needed to reap the rewards. It is not intended for the general public.

“We can’t possibly package all the effects of exercise into a single pill; there are too many benefits that stretch throughout the entire body beyond what we could ‘prescribe’, and that’s not the goal,” Dr Chu-Tan said. 

The science

The molecular messages are sent to our brain and potentially our eyes immediately after we exercise.

The ANU team wants to understand what effect these molecular messages have on retinal health, the central nervous system, and eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

As we age, Professor Natali explained, our bodies lose the ability to communicate between the muscles and the retina. But like taking supplements, genetic or molecular supplementation could continue that natural biological process as we age.

“Our goal is to figure out what these molecules are communicating to the body and how they’re communicating.”

ANU researchers set out to discover what impact exercise has on the retina – the light-sensing part of the eye – and whether exercise can help maintain good eyesight as we age.

Dr Chu-Tan said further research was needed to understand how these molecular signals, sent from the rest of the body when we exercise, reach our brain and eyes.

“We found the benefits of exercise extend far beyond what has traditionally been known; however, this has been largely understudied in the retina, despite the retina being an extension of the brain.”

Dr Chu-Tan, Tuckwell Scholar Max Kirkby, and Associate Professor Natoli’s systematic review of existing literature into the benefits of exercise on the central nervous system and eyes, including the retina, is published in Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology.