Mechanisms mediating brain and cognitive reserve: Experience-dependent neuroprotection and functional compensation in animal models of neurodegenerative diseases

Abstract

'Brain and cognitive reserve' (BCR) refers here to the accumulated neuroprotective reserve and capacity for functional compensation induced by the chronic enhancement of mental and physical activity. BCR is thought to protect against, and compensate for, a range of different neurodegenerative diseases, as well as other neurological and psychiatric disorders. In this review we will discuss BCR, and its potential mechanisms, in neurodegenerative disorders, with a focus on Huntington's disease (HD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Epidemiological studies of AD, and other forms of dementia, provided early evidence for BCR. The first evidence for the beneficial effects of enhanced mental and physica..