title: The effect of aerobic exercise on cortical architecture in patients with chronic schizophrenia: a randomized controlled MRI study.
abstract: Via influencing brain plasticity, aerobic exercise could contribute to the treatment of schizophrenia patients. As previously shown, physical exercise increases hippocampus volume and improves short-term memory. We now investigated gray matter density and brain surface expansion in this sample using MRI-based cortical pattern matching methods. Comparing schizophrenia patients to healthy controls before and after 3 months of aerobic exercise training (cycling) plus patients playing table football yielded gray matter density increases in the right frontal and occipital cortex merely in healthy controls. However, respective exercise effects might be attenuated in chronic schizophrenia, which should be verified in a larger sample.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Nußbaumstr 7, 80336, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Falkai
authors.forename: Berend
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Malchow
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wobrock
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Gruber
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schmitt
authors.forename: William G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Honer
authors.forename: Frank-Gerald
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Pajonk
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Tyrone D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Cannon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D055815:Young Adult