Journal
JOURNAL OF MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING
Volume 38, Issue 5, Pages 1177-1183Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/jmri.24090
Keywords
masters athletes; cerebral vascular reactivity; cerebral blood flow; BOLD MRI; arterial-spin-labeling; CO2
Funding
- National Institutes of Health (NIH) [R01 AG033106, R01 MH084021, NIH R01 NS067015, R01 AG042753]
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PurposeTo examine the potential benefits of life-long aerobic exercise on brain health, in particular cerebrovascular function. Materials and MethodsTen Masters athletes (MA) (seven males, three females; 74.5 5.8 years) and 10 sedentary elderly individuals (SE) (eight males, two females; 75.4 5.6 years) were recruited and baseline cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral vascular reactivity (CVR) to CO2 were measured on a 3T MRI scanner. Nine sedentary young subjects were also recruited to serve as a control group to verify the age effect. ResultsWhen compared to the SE group, MA showed higher CBF in posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus, which are key regions of the default-mode-network and are known to be highly sensitive to age and dementia. CVR in the MA brains were paradoxically lower than that in SE. This effect was present throughout the brain. Within the MA group, individuals with higher VO2max had an even lower CVR, suggesting a dose-response relationship. ConclusionLife-long aerobic exercise preserved blood supply in the brain's default-mode-network against age-related degradation. On the other hand, its impact on the cerebral vascular system seems to be characterized by a dampening of CO2 reactivity, possibly because of desensitization effects due to a higher lifetime exposure. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2013;38:1177-1183. (c) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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