Key result
Higher aerobic fitness was significantly associated with greater whole-brain averaged gray matter cerebrovascular reactivity (r = 0.62, p = 0.003) in healthy young adults.
Why the study?
Existing evidence suggested a positive relationship between fitness and resting grey matter cerebral blood flow and cerebrovascular reactivity, but its effects in the healthy brain of young adults remained to be quantified using arterial spin labeling MRI.
Is higher aerobic fitness associated with altered resting cerebral blood flow and cerebrovascular reactivity in healthy young adults?
Cross-Sectional (n=20)
No
Is higher aerobic fitness associated with altered resting cerebral blood flow and cerebrovascular reactivity in healthy young adults?
Higher aerobic fitness in healthy young adults is associated with greater cerebrovascular reactivity and lower baseline cerebral blood flow.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Association in young adults is hypothesis-generating; leaves open causality and needs prospective trials before any clinical inference.
This cross-sectional study investigated the effects of aerobic fitness on cerebrovascular function in the healthy brain. Grey matter cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) were quantified in a sample of young adults within a normal fitness range. Based on existing Transcranial Doppler ultrasound and fMRI evidence, a positive relationship between fitness and resting grey matter CBF, and CVR was predicted. Exploratory hypotheses that higher V ̇O2peak would be associated with higher GM volume and cognitive performance were also investigated. 20 adults underwent a V ̇O2peak test and a battery of cognitive tests. All subjects also underwent an MRI scan where multiple inversion time (MTI) pulsed arterial spin labelling (PASL) was used to quantify resting CBF and CVR to 5% CO2. Region of interest analysis showed a non-significant inverse correlation between whole-brain grey matter CBF and V ̇O2peak; r=-0.4, p=0.08, corrected p (p’) =0.16 and a significant positive correlation between V ̇O2peak and whole-brain averaged grey matter CVR; r=0.62, p=0.003, p’ =0.006. Voxel-wise analysis revealed a significant inverse association between V ̇O2peak and resting CBF in the left and right thalamus, brainstem, right lateral occipital cortex, left intra-calcarine cortex and cerebellum. The results of this study suggest that aerobic fitness is associated with lower CBF and greater CVR in young adults.
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Foster et al. (2020) conducted a cross-sectional in Healthy (n=20). Aerobic fitness (VO2peak) vs. Lower aerobic fitness was evaluated on Whole-brain averaged gray matter cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) (r = 0.62, p=0.003). Higher aerobic fitness was significantly associated with greater whole-brain averaged gray matter cerebrovascular reactivity (r = 0.62, p = 0.003) in healthy young adults.
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