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A 16-Week Aerobic Exercise Intervention Does Not Affect Hippocampal Volume and Cortical Thickness in Mild to Moderate Alzheimer's Disease.

ABSTRACT: Introduction: Brain imaging studies in healthy elderly subjects suggest a positive effect of aerobic exercise on both brain structure and function, while the effects of aerobic exercise in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) has been scarcely investigated. Methods: In a single-blinded randomized MRI study, we assessed the effects of an aerobic exercise intervention on brain volume as measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and its correlation to cognitive functioning in patients with AD. The study was a sub-study of a larger randomized controlled trial (ADEX study). Forty-one patients were assigned to a control or exercise group. The exercise group performed 60-min of aerobic exercise three times per week for 16 weeks. All participants underwent whole-brain MRI at 3 Tesla and cognitive assessment at baseline and after 16 weeks. Attendance and intensity were monitored providing a total exercise load. Changes in regional brain volumes and cortical thickness were analyzed using Freesurfer software. Results: There was no effect of the type of intervention on MRI-derived brain volumes. In the entire group with and without training, Exercise load showed a positive correlation with changes in volume in the hippocampus, as well as frontal cortical thickness. Volume changes in frontal cortical thickness correlated with changes in measures of mental speed and attention and exercise load in the exercise group. Conclusion: We did not find evidence to support an effect of 16 weeks of aerobic exercise on brain volume changes in patients with AD. Longer intervention periods may be needed to affect brain structure as measured with volumetric MRI. Clinical Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01681602, registered September 10th, 2012 (Retrospectively registered).

SUBMITTER: Frederiksen KS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6167961 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A 16-Week Aerobic Exercise Intervention Does Not Affect Hippocampal Volume and Cortical Thickness in Mild to Moderate Alzheimer's Disease.

Frederiksen Kristian Steen KS Larsen Christian Thode CT Hasselbalch Steen Gregers SG Christensen Anders Nymark AN Høgh Peter P Wermuth Lene L Andersen Birgitte Bo BB Siebner Hartwig Roman HR Garde Ellen E

Frontiers in aging neuroscience 20180925

<b>Introduction:</b> Brain imaging studies in healthy elderly subjects suggest a positive effect of aerobic exercise on both brain structure and function, while the effects of aerobic exercise in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) has been scarcely investigated. <b>Methods:</b> In a single-blinded randomized MRI study, we assessed the effects of an aerobic exercise intervention on brain volume as measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and its correlation to cognitive functioning in patients with AD. ...[more]

PMID: 30319397

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Project description:BackgroundThe hippocampus plays an important role in psychopathology and treatment outcome. While posterior hippocampus (PH) may be crucial for the learning process that exposure-based treatments require, affect-focused treatments might preferentially engage anterior hippocampus (AH). Previous studies have distinguished the different functions of these hippocampal sub-regions in memory, learning, and emotional processes, but not in treatment outcome. Examining two independent clinical trials, we hypothesized that anterior hippocampal volume would predict outcome of affect-focused treatment outcome [Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT); Panic-Focused Psychodynamic Psychotherapy (PFPP)], whereas posterior hippocampal volume would predict exposure-based treatment outcome [Prolonged Exposure (PE); Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT); Applied Relaxation Training (ART)].MethodsThirty-five patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and 24 with panic disorder (PD) underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before randomization to affect-focused (IPT for PTSD; PFPP for PD) or exposure-based treatments (PE for PTSD; CBT or ART for PD). AH and PH volume were regressed with clinical outcome changes.ResultsBaseline whole hippocampal volume did not predict post-treatment clinical severity scores in any treatment. For affect-focused treatments, but not exposure-based treatments, anterior hippocampal volume predicted clinical improvement. Smaller AH correlated with greater affect-focused treatment improvement. Posterior hippocampal volume did not predict treatment outcome.ConclusionsThis is the first study to explore associations between hippocampal volume sub-regions and treatment outcome in PTSD and PD. Convergent results suggest that affect-focused treatment may influence the clinical outcome through the 'limbic' AH, whereas exposure-based treatments do not. These preliminary, theory-congruent, therapeutic findings require replication in a larger clinical trial.

Dataset Information

A 16-Week Aerobic Exercise Intervention Does Not Affect Hippocampal Volume and Cortical Thickness in Mild to Moderate Alzheimer's Disease.

Publications

A 16-Week Aerobic Exercise Intervention Does Not Affect Hippocampal Volume and Cortical Thickness in Mild to Moderate Alzheimer's Disease.

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