Chang Yu-Kai, Tsai Jack Han-Chao, Wang Chun-Chih, Chang Erik Chihhung
Graduate Institute of Athletics and Coaching Science, National Taiwan Sport University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
Exp Brain Res. 2015 Jul;233(7):2239-48. doi: 10.1007/s00221-015-4293-x. Epub 2015 May 1.
The aim of this study was to use diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to characterize and compare microscopic differences in white matter integrity in the basal ganglia between elite professional athletes specializing in running and martial arts. Thirty-three young adults with sport-related skills as elite professional runners (n = 11) or elite professional martial artists (n = 11) were recruited and compared with non-athletic and healthy controls (n = 11). All participants underwent health- and skill-related physical fitness assessments. Fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD), the primary indices derived from DTI, were computed for five regions of interest in the bilateral basal ganglia, including the caudate nucleus, putamen, globus pallidus internal segment (GPi), globus pallidus external segment (GPe), and subthalamic nucleus. Results revealed that both athletic groups demonstrated better physical fitness indices compared with their control counterparts, with the running group exhibiting the highest cardiovascular fitness and the martial arts group exhibiting the highest muscular endurance and flexibility. With respect to the basal ganglia, both athletic groups showed significantly lower FA and marginally higher MD values in the GPi compared with the healthy control group. These findings suggest that professional sport or motor skill training is associated with changes in white matter integrity in specific regions of the basal ganglia, although these positive changes did not appear to depend on the type of sport-related motor skill being practiced.
本研究的目的是使用扩散张量成像（DTI）来表征和比较专门从事跑步和武术的精英职业运动员基底神经节中白质完整性的微观差异。招募了33名具有与运动相关技能的年轻人，其中包括精英职业跑步运动员（n = 11）或精英职业武术家（n = 11），并与非运动员健康对照组（n = 11）进行比较。所有参与者都接受了与健康和技能相关的体能评估。对双侧基底神经节的五个感兴趣区域计算了分数各向异性（FA）和平均扩散率（MD），这是DTI得出的主要指标，这些区域包括尾状核、壳核、苍白球内侧段（GPi）、苍白球外侧段（GPe）和丘脑底核。结果显示，与对照组相比，两个运动组的体能指标都更好，跑步组的心血管适应性最高，武术组的肌肉耐力和柔韧性最高。关于基底神经节，与健康对照组相比，两个运动组在GPi中的FA值均显著降低，MD值略高。这些发现表明，职业运动或运动技能训练与基底神经节特定区域的白质完整性变化有关，尽管这些积极变化似乎并不取决于所练习的与运动相关的运动技能类型。
