AGE DEPENDENT EFFECTS OF EXERCISE AND BRAIN AND COGNITION

这个子项目是许多研究子项目中的一个 由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源。子项目和 研究者（PI）可能从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金， 因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。所列机构为 研究中心，而研究中心不一定是研究者所在的机构。 这项研究的主要目的是收集试点数据，以支持即将到来的NIH（R 01）拨款申请，并描述体育锻炼，大脑结构和功能（通过MRI测量），认知和衰老之间的关系。将对比四组健康的正常成年人：年轻（20-25岁）和老年（60-65岁）经常锻炼者和年轻和老年非锻炼者。假设（1）运动状态对大脑结构和功能有主要影响，（2）年龄对大脑结构和功能以及认知功能都有主要影响，以及（3）运动状态和年龄对认知功能有相互作用，使得运动状态对认知功能的影响在年龄较大的组中更大。 迄今为止有限的MRI特异性研究表明，有氧运动可以保护老年人群的脑容量（额叶区域中的灰质和白色物质）和相关的认知能力（Colcombe等人，2003年，2006年）。另一项研究（Marks等人，2007）表明，更大的有氧健身与增加白色物质的完整性在关键选择的大脑区域。拟议的研究旨在通过使用多种脑成像技术来证实和扩展这些发现，以确定运动对脑形态/体积，连通性，激活和灌注的影响。有氧健身将通过最大耗氧量跑步机方案确定;相关认知差异将使用以下任务进行评估：限制性学习、Stroop和Weschler记忆测试。为了解决当前文献中的空白，并探索年龄的潜在影响，本研究还打算纳入年轻人群。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The primary objectives of this study are to collect pilot data, in support of an upcoming NIH (R01) grant application, and to characterize the relationships between physical exercise, brain structure and function (as measured by MRI), cognition, and aging. Four groups of healthy normal adults will be contrasted: younger (aged 20-25 years) and older (60-65 years) regular exercisers and younger and older non-exercisers. It is hypothesized that (1) there will be a main effect of exercise status on brain structure and function, (2) there will be a main effect of age on both brain structure and function, and cognitive function, and (3) there will be an interaction between exercise status and age on cognitive function such that the effects of exercise status on cognitive function will be greater in the older age group. Limited MRI specific research to date indicates that aerobic exercise may preserve brain volume (gray and white matter in frontal regions) and associated cognitive capacity in elderly populations (Colcombe et al., 2003, 2006). One other study (Marks et al., 2007) suggests that greater aerobic fitness is associated with increased white matter integrity in key select brain regions. The proposed research study intends to corroborate and extend these findings by using multiple brain imaging techniques to determine the influence of exercise on: brain morphometry/volume, connectivity, activation, and perfusion. Aerobic fitness will be determined from a maximal oxygen consumption treadmill protocol; associated cognitive differences will be assessed using the following tasks: Reversal Learning, Stroop, and Weschler Memory test. To address a void in the current literature, and to explore potential effects of age, this investigation intends to also include a young population.