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Plaza-Florido A, Esteban-Cornejo I, Mora-Gonzalez J, Torres-Lopez LV, Osuna-Prieto FJ, Gil-Cosano JJ, Radom-Aizik S, Labayen I, Ruiz JR, Altmäe S, Ortega FB. Gene-exercise interaction on brain health in children with overweight/obesity: the ActiveBrains randomized controlled trial. J Appl Physiol (1985) 2023; 135:775-785. [PMID: 37589055 PMCID: PMC10642513 DOI: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00435.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2023] [Revised: 08/08/2023] [Accepted: 08/14/2023] [Indexed: 08/18/2023] Open
Abstract
We investigated the interaction between a genetic score and an exercise intervention on brain health in children with overweight/obesity. One hundred one children with overweight/obesity (10.0 ± 1.5 yr, 59% girls) were randomized into a 20-wk combined exercise intervention or a control group. Several cognitive and academic outcomes were measured with validated tests. Hippocampal volume was quantified using magnetic resonance imaging. Six brain health-related polymorphisms [rs6265 (BDNF), rs2253206 (CREB1), rs2289656 (NTRK2), rs4680 (COMT), rs429358, and rs7412 (APOE)] were genotyped. Cognitive flexibility and academic skills improved significantly more in the exercise than in the control group only in the children with a "favorable" genetic profile [mean z-score, 0.41-0.67 (95% CI 0.11 to 1.18)], yet not in those with "less favorable" genetic profile. An individual response analysis showed that children responded to exercise in cognitive flexibility only in the "genetically favorable" group [i.e., 62% of them had a meaningful (≥0.2 Cohen d) increase in the exercise group compared with only 25% in the control group]. This finding was consistent in per-protocol and intention-to-treat analyses (P = 0.01 and P = 0.03, respectively). The results were not significant or not consistent for the rest of outcomes studied. Our findings suggest that having a more favorable genetic profile makes children with overweight/obesity more responsive to exercise, particularly for cognitive flexibility.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Interindividual differences have been reported in brain health-related outcomes in response to exercise interventions in adults, which could be partially explained by genetic background differences. However, the role of genetic polymorphisms on brain health-related outcomes in response to exercise interventions remains unexplored in pediatric population. The current study in children with overweight/obesity showed that a genetic score composed of six brain health-related polymorphisms (BDNF, CREB1, NTRK2, COMT, and APOE) regulated the exercise-induced response on several brain health outcomes, yet mainly and more consistently on cognitive flexibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abel Plaza-Florido
- Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Sport and Health University Research Institute (iMUDS), University of Granada, Granada, Spain
- Pediatric Exercise and Genomics Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, California, United States
| | - Irene Esteban-Cornejo
- Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Sport and Health University Research Institute (iMUDS), University of Granada, Granada, Spain
- CIBER de Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBEROBN), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Granada, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, Granada, Spain
| | - Jose Mora-Gonzalez
- Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Sport and Health University Research Institute (iMUDS), University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Lucia V Torres-Lopez
- Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Sport and Health University Research Institute (iMUDS), University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Francisco J Osuna-Prieto
- Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Sport and Health University Research Institute (iMUDS), University of Granada, Granada, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Pere Virgili, University Hospital of Tarragona Joan XXIII, Tarragona, Spain
| | - Jose J Gil-Cosano
- Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Sport and Health University Research Institute (iMUDS), University of Granada, Granada, Spain
- Department of Communication and Education, Universidad Loyola Andalucía, Dos Hermanas, Sevilla, Spain
| | - Shlomit Radom-Aizik
- Pediatric Exercise and Genomics Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, California, United States
| | - Idoia Labayen
- CIBER de Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBEROBN), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Granada, Spain
- Research Institute for Sustainability & Food Chain Innovation (IS-FOOD), Public University of Navarre, Pamplona, Spain
- Department of Health Sciences, Public University of Navarre, Pamplona, Spain
- IdiSNA, Navarra Institute for Health Research, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Jonatan R Ruiz
- Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Sport and Health University Research Institute (iMUDS), University of Granada, Granada, Spain
- CIBER de Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBEROBN), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Granada, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, Granada, Spain
| | - Signe Altmäe
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, Granada, Spain
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
- Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department of Clinical Scinece, Intervention and Technology (CLINTEC), Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Francisco B Ortega
- Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Sport and Health University Research Institute (iMUDS), University of Granada, Granada, Spain
- CIBER de Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBEROBN), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Granada, Spain
- Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
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Lee LC, Su MT, Huang HY, Cho YC, Yeh TK, Chang CY. Association of CaMK2A and MeCP2 signaling pathways with cognitive ability in adolescents. Mol Brain 2021; 14:152. [PMID: 34607601 PMCID: PMC8491411 DOI: 10.1186/s13041-021-00858-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2021] [Accepted: 09/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The glutamatergic signaling pathway is involved in molecular learning and human cognitive ability. Specific single variants (SNVs, formerly single-nucleotide polymorphisms) in the genes encoding N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor subunits have been associated with neuropsychiatric disorders by altering glutamate transmission. However, these variants associated with cognition and mental activity have rarely been explored in healthy adolescents. In this study, we screened for SNVs in the glutamatergic signaling pathway to identify genetic variants associated with cognitive ability. We found that SNVs in the subunits of ionotropic glutamate receptors, including GRIA1, GRIN1, GRIN2B, GRIN2C, GRIN3A, GRIN3B, and calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IIα (CaMK2A) are associated with cognitive function. Plasma CaMK2A level was correlated positively with the cognitive ability of Taiwanese senior high school students. We demonstrated that elevating CaMK2A increased its autophosphorylation at T286 and increased the expression of its downstream targets, including GluA1 and phosphor- GluA1 in vivo. Additionally, methyl-CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2), a downstream target of CaMK2A, was found to activate the expression of CaMK2A, suggesting that MeCP2 and CaMK2A can form a positive feedback loop. In summary, two members of the glutamatergic signaling pathway, CaMK2A and MeCP2, are implicated in the cognitive ability of adolescents; thus, altering the expression of CaMK2A may affect cognitive ability in youth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li-Ching Lee
- Science Education Center and Graduate Institute of Science Education, National Taiwan Normal University, No. 88, Sec. 4, Ting-Chou Rd., Taipei, 11677, Taiwan, Republic of China
| | - Ming-Tsan Su
- Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Hsing-Ying Huang
- Science Education Center and Graduate Institute of Science Education, National Taiwan Normal University, No. 88, Sec. 4, Ting-Chou Rd., Taipei, 11677, Taiwan, Republic of China
| | - Ying-Chun Cho
- Science Education Center and Graduate Institute of Science Education, National Taiwan Normal University, No. 88, Sec. 4, Ting-Chou Rd., Taipei, 11677, Taiwan, Republic of China
| | - Ting-Kuang Yeh
- Science Education Center and Graduate Institute of Science Education, National Taiwan Normal University, No. 88, Sec. 4, Ting-Chou Rd., Taipei, 11677, Taiwan, Republic of China. .,Institute of Marine Environment Science and Technology, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan. .,Department of Earth Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.
| | - Chun-Yen Chang
- Science Education Center and Graduate Institute of Science Education, National Taiwan Normal University, No. 88, Sec. 4, Ting-Chou Rd., Taipei, 11677, Taiwan, Republic of China. .,Department of Earth Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.
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