Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
Department of Neurology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina.
J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2020 Jan 20;75(2):236-243. doi: 10.1093/gerona/gly220.
Physical activity has positive effects on brain health and cognitive function throughout the life span. Thus far, few studies have examined the effects of physical activity on white matter microstructure and psychomotor speed within the same, population-based sample (critical if conclusions are to extend to the wider population). Here, using diffusion tensor imaging and a simple reaction time task within a relatively large population-derived sample (N = 399; 18-87 years) from the Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience (Cam-CAN), we demonstrate that physical activity mediates the effect of age on white matter integrity, measured with fractional anisotropy. Higher self-reported daily physical activity was associated with greater preservation of white matter in several frontal tracts, including the genu of corpus callosum, uncinate fasciculus, external capsule, and anterior limb of the internal capsule. We also show that the age-related slowing is mediated by white matter integrity in the genu. Our findings contribute to a growing body of work, suggesting that a physically active lifestyle may protect against age-related structural disconnection and slowing.
体育活动对整个生命周期的大脑健康和认知功能都有积极影响。到目前为止，很少有研究在同一个基于人群的样本中检查体育活动对大脑白质微观结构和心理运动速度的影响（如果要将结论推广到更广泛的人群，这一点至关重要）。在这里，我们使用来自剑桥老龄化和神经科学中心（Cam-CAN）的相对较大的人群样本（N=399；18-87 岁）中的扩散张量成像和简单反应时间任务，证明体育活动可以调节年龄对大脑白质完整性的影响，用分数各向异性来衡量。较高的自我报告日常体育活动与几个额部束的大脑白质的较好保留相关，包括胼胝体膝部、钩束、外囊和内囊前肢。我们还表明，与年龄相关的减速是由胼胝体膝部的大脑白质完整性介导的。我们的发现为越来越多的工作做出了贡献，表明积极的生活方式可能有助于预防与年龄相关的结构脱节和减速。
