title: In vivo human brain biochemistry after aerobic exercise: preliminary report on functional magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Our aim was to disclose whether the positive psychological changes observed after a single bout of aerobic exercise have a biochemical correlate that can be visualized by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) of the human brain.
  
  
  METHODS
  Right-handed male volunteers underwent psychological testing and MRS of the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere, both before and after 20 minutes of jogging at about 70% of their maximal aerobic capacity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although there was a significant decrease on the postexercise anxiety test scores (z = -2.201, P < .05), there was no significant difference between the preexercise and postexercise scores of positive and negative affect. Considering both "amplitude" and "area under the curve" values calculated for the peaks of metabolites N-acetylaspartate (NAA), creatine, and choline, none were found to be significantly changed (P > .05) after the exercise.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is, to our knowledge, the first study to report on a functional application of MRS to mood states. Because it offers the ability to directly measure metabolic changes in the brain during neuronal activation, "functional MRS" may be a potential new tool that may be used as an adjunct to functional magnetic resonance imaging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Education, Middle East Technical University, Ankara 06531, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ertunga
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cağlar
authors.forename: Hakan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sabuncuoğlu
authors.forename: Tülay
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Keskin
authors.forename: Sedat
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Isikli
authors.forename: Semih
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Keskil
authors.forename: Feza
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Korkusuz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D002794:Choline / Q000378:metabolism*; D003401:Creatine / Q000378:metabolism*; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008297:Male; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012016:Reference Values; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D001224:Aspartic Acid; C000179:N-acetylaspartate; D003401:Creatine; D002794:Choline