Effects of Long-term Diving Training on Cortical Gyrification.
During human brain development, cortical gyrification, which is believed to facilitate compact wiring of neural circuits, has been shown to follow an inverted U-shaped curve, coinciding with the two-stage neurodevelopmental process of initial synaptic overproduction with subsequent pruning. This trajectory allows postnatal experiences to refine the wiring, which may manifest as endophenotypic changes in cortical gyrification. Diving experts, typical elite athletes who commence intensive motor training at a very young age in their early childhood, serve ideal models for examining the gyrification changes related to long-term intensive diving training. Using local gyrification index (LGI), we compared the cortical gyrification between 12 diving experts and 12 controls. Compared with controls, diving experts showed widespread LGI reductions in regions relevant to diving performance. Negative correlations between LGIs and years of diving training were also observed in diving experts. Further exploratory network efficiency analysis of structural cortical networks, inferred from interregional correlation of LGIs, revealed comparable global and local efficiency in diving experts relative to controls. These findings suggest that gyrification reductions in diving experts may be the result of long-term diving training which could refine the neural circuitry (via synaptic pruning) and might be the anatomical substrate underlying their extraordinary diving performance.
Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China.|Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, H3A2B4, Canada.
Yuanchao
Y
Zhang
Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, H3A2B4, Canada.
Lu
L
Zhao
Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China.
Wenwei
W
Bi
Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China.
Yue
Y
Wang
Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100101 Beijing, China.
Gaoxia
G
Wei
Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, H3A2B4, Canada.
Alan
A
Evans
Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China.
Tianzi
T
Jiang
D000293:Adolescent; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D004242:Diving; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors