Zhang Yuanchao, Zhao Lu, Bi Wenwei, Wang Yue, Wei Gaoxia, Evans Alan, Jiang Tianzi
Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China.
Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, H3A2B4, Canada.
Sci Rep. 2016 Jun 20;6:28243. doi: 10.1038/srep28243.
During human brain development, cortical gyrification, which is believed to facilitate compact wiring of neural circuits, has been shown to follow an inverted U-shaped curve, coinciding with the two-stage neurodevelopmental process of initial synaptic overproduction with subsequent pruning. This trajectory allows postnatal experiences to refine the wiring, which may manifest as endophenotypic changes in cortical gyrification. Diving experts, typical elite athletes who commence intensive motor training at a very young age in their early childhood, serve ideal models for examining the gyrification changes related to long-term intensive diving training. Using local gyrification index (LGI), we compared the cortical gyrification between 12 diving experts and 12 controls. Compared with controls, diving experts showed widespread LGI reductions in regions relevant to diving performance. Negative correlations between LGIs and years of diving training were also observed in diving experts. Further exploratory network efficiency analysis of structural cortical networks, inferred from interregional correlation of LGIs, revealed comparable global and local efficiency in diving experts relative to controls. These findings suggest that gyrification reductions in diving experts may be the result of long-term diving training which could refine the neural circuitry (via synaptic pruning) and might be the anatomical substrate underlying their extraordinary diving performance.
在人类大脑发育过程中，皮层脑回形成被认为有助于神经回路的紧密布线，研究表明其遵循倒U形曲线，这与神经发育的两阶段过程相吻合，即最初突触过度产生随后进行修剪。这一轨迹使出生后的经历能够优化布线，这可能表现为皮层脑回形成的内表型变化。潜水专家是典型的精英运动员，他们在幼儿期就开始进行高强度的运动训练，是研究与长期高强度潜水训练相关的脑回形成变化的理想模型。我们使用局部脑回指数（LGI）比较了12名潜水专家和12名对照组人员的皮层脑回情况。与对照组相比，潜水专家在与潜水表现相关的区域出现了广泛的LGI降低。在潜水专家中还观察到LGI与潜水训练年限之间存在负相关。通过LGIs的区域间相关性推断出的皮层结构网络的进一步探索性网络效率分析显示，与对照组相比，潜水专家的全局和局部效率相当。这些发现表明，潜水专家脑回形成的减少可能是长期潜水训练的结果，长期潜水训练可能通过突触修剪优化神经回路，并可能是他们非凡潜水表现的解剖学基础。
