Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, Dallas, TX, USA.
Department of Neurology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.
J Int Neuropsychol Soc. 2024 Mar;30(3):199-208. doi: 10.1017/S1355617723000498. Epub 2023 Aug 30.
Higher cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) induces neuroprotective effects in the hippocampus, a key brain region for memory and learning. We investigated the association between CRF and functional connectivity (FC) of the hippocampus in healthy young adults. We also examined the association between hippocampal FC and neurocognitive function. Lastly, we tested whether hippocampal FC mediates the association between 2-Min Walk Test (2MWT) and neurocognitive function.
913 young adults (28.7 ± 3.7 years) from the Human Connectome Project were included in the analyses. The 2MWT performance result was used as a proxy for cardiovascular endurance. Fluid and crystalized composite neurocognitive scores were used to assess cognition. Resting-state functional MRI data were processed to measure hippocampal FC. Linear regression was used to examine the association between 2MWT, hippocampal FC, and neurocognitive outcomes after controlling for age, sex, years of education, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, and gait speed.
Better 2MWT performance was associated with greater FC between the anterior hippocampus and right posterior cingulate and left middle temporal gyrus. No associations between 2MWT and posterior hippocampal FC, whole hippocampal FC, and caudate FC (control region) were observed. Greater anterior hippocampal FC was associated with better crystalized cognition scores. Lastly, greater FC between the anterior hippocampus and right posterior cingulate mediated the association between better 2MWT scores and higher crystalized cognition scores.
Anterior hippocampal FC may be one underlying neurophysiological mechanism that promotes the association between 2MWT performance and crystalized composite cognitive function in healthy young adults.
更高的心肺适能（CRF）会在海马体中产生神经保护作用，海马体是记忆和学习的关键大脑区域。我们研究了 CRF 与健康年轻成年人中海马体功能连接（FC）之间的关系。我们还检查了海马体 FC 与神经认知功能之间的关系。最后，我们测试了海马体 FC 是否介导了 2 分钟步行测试（2MWT）与神经认知功能之间的关联。
纳入了来自人类连接组计划的 913 名年轻成年人（28.7±3.7 岁）进行分析。2MWT 表现结果被用作心血管耐力的替代指标。流体和晶体复合神经认知评分用于评估认知。使用静息态功能磁共振成像数据来测量海马体 FC。线性回归用于在控制年龄、性别、受教育年限、体重指数、收缩压和步速后，检查 2MWT、海马体 FC 与神经认知结果之间的关联。
更好的 2MWT 表现与前海马体与右侧后扣带回和左侧颞中回之间更大的 FC 相关。2MWT 与后海马体 FC、全海马体 FC 和尾状核 FC（对照区域）之间没有关联。更大的前海马体 FC 与更好的晶体认知评分相关。最后，前海马体与右侧后扣带回之间更大的 FC 介导了更好的 2MWT 评分与更高的晶体认知评分之间的关联。
前海马体 FC 可能是促进 2MWT 表现与健康年轻成年人晶体复合认知功能之间关联的一种潜在神经生理机制。
