title: Aerobic Activity in the Healthy Elderly Is Associated with Larger Plasticity in Memory Related Brain Structures and Lower Systemic Inflammation.
abstract: Cognitive abilities decline over the time course of our life, a process, which may be mediated by brain atrophy and enhanced inflammatory processes. Lifestyle factors, such as regular physical activities have been shown to counteract those noxious processes and are assumed to delay or possibly even prevent pathological states, such as dementing disorders. Whereas the impact of lifestyle and immunological factors and their interactions on cognitive aging have been frequently studied, their effects on neural parameters as brain activation and functional connectivity are less well studied. Therefore, we investigated 32 healthy elderly individuals (60.4 ± 5.0SD; range 52-71 years) with low or high level of self-reported aerobic physical activity at the time of testing. A higher compared to a lower level in aerobic physical activity was associated with an increased encoding related functional connectivity in an episodic memory network comprising mPFC, thalamus, hippocampus precuneus, and insula. Moreover, encoding related functional connectivity of this network was associated with decreased systemic inflammation, as measured by systemic levels of interleukin 6.
authors.affiliation: Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University NijmegenNijmegen, Netherlands; Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, University of Essen-DuisburgEssen, Germany.
authors.forename: Jan-Willem
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Thielen
authors.affiliation: Division of Forensic Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, LWL-University Hospital Bochum Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kärgel
authors.affiliation: Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, LVR-Hospital Essen, Faculty of Medicine, University of Duisburg-EssenEssen, Germany; Department of Psychology, University of WuppertalWuppertal, Germany.
authors.forename: Bernhard W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, LVR-Hospital Essen, Faculty of Medicine, University of Duisburg-Essen Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Ina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rasche
authors.affiliation: Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University NijmegenNijmegen, Netherlands; AbbVie Neuroscience DevelopmentLudwigshafen, Germany.
authors.forename: Just
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Genius
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center Nijmegen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Boudewijn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bus
authors.affiliation: Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, University of Essen-Duisburg Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maderwald
authors.affiliation: Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University NijmegenNijmegen, Netherlands; Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, University of Essen-DuisburgEssen, Germany.
authors.forename: David G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Norris
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Göttingen Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wiltfang
authors.affiliation: Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University NijmegenNijmegen, Netherlands; Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, University of Essen-DuisburgEssen, Germany; Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, LVR-Hospital Essen, Faculty of Medicine, University of Duisburg-EssenEssen, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical CenterNijmegen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Indira
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tendolkar
keywords: elderly; fMRI; functional connectivity; inflammation; interleukin-6; memory; physical activity