Journal
BEHAVIOURAL BRAIN RESEARCH
Volume 373, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2019.112042
Keywords
Physical activity; Diffusion tensor imaging; Brain health; Cognitive function; Dementia; White matter microstructure
Categories
Funding
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
- Brenda Strafford Foundation Chair in Alzheimer Research (BSFCAR)
- T. Chen Fong Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Medical Imaging Science
- Brenda Strafford Centre on Aging within the O'Brien Institute for Public Health
- BSFCAR
- Alberta Innovates Health Solutions
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada
- CIHR Foundation Grant
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Aging is associated with decline in white matter (WM) microstructure, decreased cognitive functioning, and increased risk of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Recent research has identified aerobic physical exercise as a promising intervention for increasing white matter microstructure in aging, with the aim of increasing cognitive abilities, and protecting against neurodegenerative processes. However, the degree to which white matter microstructure can be protected or improved with exercise remains incompletely understood. Here, a sub-group of 25 healthy, sedentary participants (aged 57 to 86 years; M = 67.1; SD = 7.9; 11 female, 14 male) from the larger Brain in Motion Study (Tyndall et al., 2013) underwent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) before and after a six-month aerobic exercise intervention. DTI data were analysed with FSL's Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS) to determine whether WM microstructure improved, as defined by increased fractional anisotropy (FA) and/or decreased mean diffusivity (MD), after the aerobic exercise intervention. Neither FA nor MD of the cerebral WM were significantly correlated with either age or cardiovascular fitness at baseline. Whole-brain WM mean FA decreased over the intervention while mean MD showed no significant change. Longitudinal TBSS analyses revealed decreased FA in the left uncinate fasciculus, left anterior corona radiata, left inferior frontooccipital fasciculus, and left anterior thalamic radiation. MD increased in the left forceps major, left inferior longitudinal fasciculus, and left superior longitudinal fasciculus. Results indicate that six months of aerobic exercise in healthy, sedentary older adults was not associated with improvements in FA or MD measures of cerebral WM microstructure.
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