title: Long-term mild-intensity exercise regimen preserves prefrontal cortical volume against aging.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  It has been suggested that exercise improves cognitive function and increases cerebral volume even in older people. However, the relation between cognitive function and brain volume is unclear. We evaluated the longitudinal change of cognitive function and gray matter volume due to mild-intensity exercise over 2 years, and the residual effects 6 months post-exercise.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects were 110 healthy older individuals over 65 years old in Tone town, Ibaraki prefecture. Seventy-five participants were voluntarily enrolled in the exercise group. A mild-intensity calisthenics regimen, which consisted of home-based and club-based programs for as long as 2 years, was employed as the intervention for the exercise group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The exercise group showed significant improvement in attentional shift over the course of the observation period including a 6-month follow-up. Neuroimaging analysis revealed the significant preservation of bilateral prefrontal volume in the exercise group with small-volume corrections, although this effect faded after intervention. Furthermore, the longitudinal changes in attentional shift and memory were positively correlated with the prefrontal volumetric changes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that mild-intensity exercise could prevent prefrontal volume reduction due to aging and impede cognitive decline.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.|Ibaraki Prefectural Medical Center of Psychiatry, Kasama, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tamura
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Division of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Kiyotaka
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nemoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Statistics and Bioinformatics, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kawaguchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Nutrition, Yonezawa Women's Junior College of Yamagata Prefecture, Yonezawa, Yamagata, Japan.
authors.forename: Morimasa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Division of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arai
authors.affiliation: Biostatistics Center, Kurume University, Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Tatsuyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kakuma
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, Faculty of Health and Sports Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Katsuyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mizukami
authors.affiliation: Integrative Brain Image Center, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsuda
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Exercise Biochemistry and Neuroendocrinology, Faculty of Health and Sports Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Hideaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Soya
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Division of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Asada
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D059906:Neuroimaging / Q000379:methods; D009929:Organ Size; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: aging; brain; cognition; exercise; longitudinal study; voxel-based morphometry