White matter integrity in physically fit older adults - PubMed (original) (raw)

White matter integrity in physically fit older adults

B Y Tseng et al. Neuroimage. 2013.

Abstract

Background: White matter (WM) integrity declines with normal aging. Physical activity may attenuate age-related WM integrity changes and improve cognitive function. This study examined brain WM integrity in Masters athletes who have engaged in life-long aerobic exercise training. We tested the hypothesis that life-long aerobic training is associated with improved brain WM integrity in older adults.

Methods: Ten Masters athletes (3 females, age=72.2 ± 5.3 years, endurance training >15 years) and 10 sedentary older adults similar in age and educational level (2 females, age=74.5 ± 4.3 years) participated. MRI fluid-attenuated-inversion-recovery (FLAIR) images were acquired to assess white matter hyperintensities (WMH) volume. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was performed to evaluate the WM microstructural integrity with a DTI-derived metric, fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD).

Results: After normalization to whole-brain volume, Masters athletes showed an 83% reduction in deep WMH volume relative to their sedentary counterparts (0.05 ± 0.05% vs. 0.29 ± 0.29%, p<0.05). In addition, we found an inverse relationship between aerobic fitness (VO2max) and deep WMH volume (r=-0.78, p<0.001). Using TBSS, Masters athletes showed higher FA values in the right superior corona radiata (SCR), both sides of superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFO), and left inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF). In addition, Masters athletes also showed lower MD values in the left posterior thalamic radiation (PTR) and left cingulum hippocampus.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that life-long exercise is associated with reduced WMH and may preserve WM fiber microstructural integrity related to motor control and coordination in older adults.

Keywords: Aging; Exercise; MRI; Plasticity; White matter disease.

Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST:

The authors have no financial conflict of interest to disclose. A portion of this study was presented in the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Vancouver, BC in July 2012. The content of this manuscript is solely the responsibility of the authors.

Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Individual deep WMH volume indicates that sedentary older adults showed higher deep WMH volume (p=0.002) than Masters athletes. A Mann-Whitney’s U Test was conducted after excluding one sedentary subject with unusually high deep WMH volume.

Figure 2

Figure 2

Fractional anisotropy (FA, as shown in panels A-D) and mean diffusivity (MD, as shown in panels E and F) and white matter (WM) skeleton (green pixels) derived from all subjects are superimposed onto a standard single-subject template in the ICBM-DTI-81space. The red pixels demonstrate disruptions of WM fiber tracks in sedentary elderly when compared to Masters athletes as identified by TBSS in (A) right superior corona radiata; (B) right superior longitudinal fasciculus; (C) left superior longitudinal fasciculus; (D) right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus; (E) left posterior thalamic radiation; and (F) left cingulum hippocampus. The yellow crosshair identifies the MNI coordinates of each cluster (reported in Table 2). A=anterior, P=posterior, L=left, R=right.

Figure 3

Figure 3

Higher aerobic fitness (VO2max) is associated with reduced deep WMH volume (indexed to who-brain volume).

Figure 4

Figure 4

Higher aerobic fitness (VO2max) is associated with better white matter microstructural integrity (FA) in the left superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) and left inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF).

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