title: Vascular hippocampal plasticity after aerobic exercise in older adults.
abstract: Aerobic exercise in young adults can induce vascular plasticity in the hippocampus, a critical region for recall and recognition memory. In a mechanistic proof-of-concept intervention over 3 months, we investigated whether healthy older adults (60-77 years) also show such plasticity. Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and volume (rCBV) were measured with gadolinium-based perfusion imaging (3 Tesla magnetic resonance image (MRI)). Hippocampal volumes were assessed by high-resolution 7 Tesla MRI. Fitness improvement correlated with changes in hippocampal perfusion and hippocampal head volume. Perfusion tended to increase in younger, but to decrease in older individuals. The changes in fitness, hippocampal perfusion and volume were positively related to changes in recognition memory and early recall for complex spatial objects. Path analyses indicated that fitness-related changes in complex object recognition were modulated by hippocampal perfusion. These findings indicate a preserved capacity of the aging human hippocampus for functionally relevant vascular plasticity, which decreases with progressing age.
authors.affiliation: 1] Institute of Cognitive Neurology and Dementia Research, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany [2] German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Site, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maass
authors.affiliation: Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Düzel
authors.affiliation: German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Site, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goerke
authors.affiliation: German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Site, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Becke
authors.affiliation: German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Site, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Sobieray
authors.affiliation: German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Site, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Neumann
authors.affiliation: 1] Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany [2] Aging Research Center, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lövden
authors.affiliation: Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Lindenberger
authors.affiliation: Aging Research Center, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bäckman
authors.affiliation: Medical Faculty, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Braun-Dullaeus
authors.affiliation: Medical Faculty, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ahrens
authors.affiliation: 1] German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Site, Magdeburg, Germany [2] Medical Faculty, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany [3] Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: H-J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Heinze
authors.affiliation: 1] German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Site, Magdeburg, Germany [2] Medical Faculty, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: N G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: 1] Institute of Cognitive Neurology and Dementia Research, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany [2] German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Site, Magdeburg, Germany [3] Medical Faculty, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany [4] Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Düzel
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005682:Gadolinium / Q000378:metabolism; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014706:Verbal Learning
chemical_list: D005682:Gadolinium