Abstract
Recent evidence suggests that being physically active can mitigate age-related white matter (WM) changes. In a randomized clinical trial, the effect of 6-month aerobic exercise (AE) or stretching/toning interventions on measures of WM microstructure (WMM) was assessed in a sample of 74 adults aged 20–67 years. Major WM pathways were reconstructed. No significant group-level change in WM tract microstructure following an AE training was observed. Without adjustment for multiple comparisons, an increase in fractional anisotropy (FA) and a decrease in mean diffusivity (MD) of the uncinate fasciculus were observed post-intervention in the AE group in comparison with the stretching group. In the AE group, a significant increase in cardiorespiratory fitness was measured but did not correlate with FA and MD change. The present results of this study are in accordance with similar studies in healthy adults that did not show significant benefit on WMM after participating in an AE program.Clinical Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov identifier, NCT01179958.
Highlights
Intervention-induced white matter (WM) plasticity has been seen using animal models and in humans
Of those who completed the intervention, eight participants completed all 96 sessions; 65% of the aerobic exercise (AE) group and 59% of the stretching/toning group completed more than 75% of the session
The goal of the present study was to evaluate the impact of an AE program on the WM microstructure (WMM) in a sample of young and middle-aged adults, using a subset of an randomized clinical trial (RCT) (Stern et al, 2019b)
Summary
Intervention-induced white matter (WM) plasticity has been seen using animal models (for example, the effect of motor skills learning in rats; Sampaio-Baptista et al, 2013) and in humans (training of a complex visuo-motor skill; Scholz et al, 2009). In older individuals, an increase in WM volume in prefrontal and temporal cortices was reported after participating in an aerobic exercise (AE) training (Colcombe et al, 2006). In older adults, Burzynska et al (2017) reported an increase in the integrity of the fornix, based on fractional anisotropy (FA), Effect of Aerobic Exercise upon completion of 6-month dance programs, compared with a decline in the other interventions (walking, walking + nutrition, and stretching and toning). Voss et al (2013), investigating the effect of a 12-month AE program (walking) in older adults, reported no significant change in WMM, a positive correlation was observed between training-induced CRF related to the AE program and prefrontal and temporal FA In older adults, Burzynska et al (2017) reported an increase in the integrity of the fornix, based on fractional anisotropy (FA), Effect of Aerobic Exercise upon completion of 6-month dance programs, compared with a decline in the other interventions (walking, walking + nutrition, and stretching and toning). Voss et al (2013), investigating the effect of a 12-month AE program (walking) in older adults, reported no significant change in WMM, a positive correlation was observed between training-induced CRF related to the AE program and prefrontal and temporal FA
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