Perfusion and pulsatility techniques to study aerobic fitness effects on the brain

了解有氧运动对人脑的影响已经成为神经科学和运动生理学综合领域的一个新前沿。本提案涉及的生理技术的发展，主要集中在利用磁共振成像（MRI）。这项技术将有助于我们理解心脑血管系统之间的关系，即心脏和大脑的联系。这项建议的目的如下：1)开发一种MRI技术，通过高时间和空间分辨率成像定量表征大脑中的心脏搏动；2)开发我们对脑血管反应性的机制理解，使用真实世界的范式，测量参与者在有氧运动时颅内动脉的逐次血流速度；3)验证有氧运动是一种生理应激源的理论，它可以对与执行心理应激功能磁共振成像任务相关的大脑激活模式产生积极影响。总的来说，这个研究项目利用了MRI提供的特殊的空间和时间分辨率，并将提供新的定量读数，以了解大脑血管。我相信这项研究将在运动生理学领域取得重大进展。虽然目的是为了了解运动对健康成人大脑的急性影响，但这项研究自然有助于研究血管老化和终身健身效应，这些效应被认为可以保持大脑健康和认知能力

Understanding what aerobic exercise does to the human brain has become a new frontier in the integrated field of neuroscience and exercise physiology. This proposal deals with the development of physiological techniques primarily focused on exploiting magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This technology will help in our understand of the relationship between the cardiovascular and the cerebrovascular systems, i.e. the heart and brain connection. The aims in this proposal are the following: 1) develop an MRI technique that characterizes cardiac pulsatility in the brain quantitatively through high temporal and spatial resolution imaging, 2) develop our mechanistic understanding on cerebrovascular reactivity, using a real world' paradigm that measures beat-by-beat blood flow velocities from intracranial arteries while participants are exercising aerobically, 3) test the theory that aerobic exercise is a physiological stressor that can exert a positive influence on brain activation patterns associated with performing a psychologically stressful fMRI task. Collectively, this research program exploits the exceptional spatial & temporal resolution available with MRI and will deliver new quantitative readouts that inform on the brain's blood vessels. I believe this research will lead to significant advances in the field of exercise physiology. Although the aims are directed at understanding the acute effects of exercise on the healthy adult brain, this research naturally lends itself to study vascular aging and life-long fitness effects that are thought to preserve brain health and cognitive abilities.**