Impact of a single bout of aerobic exercise on regional brain perfusion and activation responses in healthy young adults

Purpose

Despite the generally accepted view that aerobic exercise can have positive effects on brain health, few studies have measured brain responses to exercise over a short time span. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact within one hour of a single bout of exercise on brain perfusion and neuronal activation.

Methods

Healthy adults (n = 16; age range: 20–35 yrs) were scanned using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) before and after 20 minutes of exercise at 70% of their age-predicted maximal heart rate. Pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (pcASL) was used to measure absolute cerebral blood flow (CBF) prior to exercise (pre) and at 10 min (post-10) and 40 min (post-40) post-exercise. Blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) functional MRI (fMRI) was performed pre and post-exercise to characterize activation differences related to a go/no-go reaction time task.

Results

Compared to pre-exercise levels, grey matter CBF was 11% (±9%) lower at post-10 (P<0.0004) and not different at post-40 (P = 0.12), while global WM CBF was increased at both time points post-exercise (P<0.0006). Regionally, the hippocampus and insula showed a decrease in perfusion in ROI-analysis at post-10 (P<0.005, FDR corrected), whereas voxel-wise analysis identified elevated perfusion in the left medial postcentral gyrus at post-40 compared to pre (p_corrected = 0.05). BOLD activations were consistent between sessions, however, the left parietal operculum showed reduced BOLD activation after exercise.

Conclusion

This study provides preliminary evidence of regionalized brain effects associated with a single bout of aerobic exercise. The observed acute cerebrovascular responses may provide some insight into the brain’s ability to change in relation to chronic interventions.