Lamont Ashley J, Mortby Moyra E, Anstey Kaarin J, Sachdev Perminder S, Cherbuin Nicolas
Centre for Research on Ageing, Health and Wellbeing, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
Neuropsychiatric Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Neuroimage. 2014 May 1;91:353-9. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.01.008. Epub 2014 Jan 13.
Physical activity is associated with brain and cognitive health in ageing. Higher levels of physical activity are linked to larger cerebral volumes, lower rates of atrophy, better cognitive function and a lower risk of cognitive decline and dementia. Neuroimaging studies have traditionally focused on volumetric brain tissue measures to test associations between factors of interest (e.g. physical activity) and brain structure. However, cortical sulci may provide additional information to these more standard measures.
Associations between physical activity, brain structure, and cognition were investigated in a large, community-based sample of cognitively healthy individuals (N=317) using both sulcal and volumetric measures.
Physical activity was associated with narrower width of the Left Superior Frontal Sulcus and the Right Central Sulcus, while volumetric measures showed no association with physical activity. In addition, Left Superior Frontal sulcal width was associated with processing speed and executive function.
These findings suggest sulcal measures may be a sensitive index of physical activity related to cerebral health and cognitive function in healthy older individuals. Further research is required to confirm these findings and to examine how sulcal measures may be most effectively used in neuroimaging.
身体活动与老年人的大脑和认知健康相关。较高水平的身体活动与更大的脑容量、更低的萎缩率、更好的认知功能以及更低的认知衰退和痴呆风险相关。传统上，神经影像学研究侧重于脑组织体积测量，以测试感兴趣的因素（如身体活动）与脑结构之间的关联。然而，脑沟可能为这些更标准的测量提供额外信息。
在一个基于社区的大型认知健康个体样本（N = 317）中，使用脑沟和体积测量方法研究身体活动、脑结构和认知之间的关联。
身体活动与左额上沟和右中央沟的宽度变窄相关，而体积测量显示与身体活动无关。此外，左额上沟宽度与处理速度和执行功能相关。
这些发现表明，脑沟测量可能是健康老年人中与脑健康和认知功能相关的身体活动的敏感指标。需要进一步研究来证实这些发现，并研究脑沟测量如何在神经影像学中最有效地使用。
