Brooks Skylar J, Parks Sean M, Stamoulis Catherine
Boston Children's Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Adolescent Medicine, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Cereb Cortex. 2021 Aug 26;31(10):4840-4852. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhab126.
Adolescence is a period of profound but incompletely understood changes in the brain's neural circuitry (the connectome), which is vulnerable to risk factors such as unhealthy weight, but may be protected by positive factors such as regular physical activity. In 5955 children (median age = 120 months; 50.86% females) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) cohort, we investigated direct and indirect (through impact on body mass index [BMI]) effects of physical activity on resting-state networks, the backbone of the functional connectome that ubiquitously affects cognitive function. We estimated significant positive effects of regular physical activity on network connectivity, efficiency, robustness and stability (P ≤ 0.01), and on local topologies of attention, somatomotor, frontoparietal, limbic, and default-mode networks (P < 0.05), which support extensive processes, from memory and executive control to emotional processing. In contrast, we estimated widespread negative BMI effects in the same network properties and brain regions (P < 0.05). Additional mediation analyses suggested that physical activity could also modulate network topologies leading to better control of food intake, appetite and satiety, and ultimately lower BMI. Thus, regular physical activity may have extensive positive effects on the development of the functional connectome, and may be critical for improving the detrimental effects of unhealthy weight on cognitive health.
青春期是大脑神经回路（连接组）发生深刻但尚未完全理解的变化的时期，该时期易受不健康体重等风险因素的影响，但可能受到定期体育活动等积极因素的保护。在青少年大脑认知发展（ABCD）队列中的5955名儿童（中位年龄 = 120个月；50.86%为女性）中，我们研究了体育活动对静息态网络的直接和间接（通过对体重指数[BMI]的影响）效应，静息态网络是功能连接组的主干，普遍影响认知功能。我们估计定期体育活动对网络连通性、效率、鲁棒性和稳定性有显著的积极影响（P≤0.01），对注意力、躯体运动、额顶叶、边缘和默认模式网络的局部拓扑结构也有显著的积极影响（P<0.05），这些网络支持从记忆、执行控制到情绪处理等广泛的过程。相比之下，我们估计BMI在相同的网络属性和脑区有广泛的负面影响（P<0.05）。额外的中介分析表明，体育活动还可以调节网络拓扑结构，从而更好地控制食物摄入、食欲和饱腹感，并最终降低BMI。因此，定期体育活动可能对功能连接组的发育有广泛的积极影响，对于改善不健康体重对认知健康的有害影响可能至关重要。
