Neural Changes of Exercise: a Functional MRI Study

NCT02541136 | Completed DMC

• 1 other identifier: Rec Ref 2011/45/13
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 40
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

Stress-related disorders have a profound impact on public health. The World Health Organisation (WHO) found major depressive disorder (MDD) to be one of the most important human health problems with a prevalence of about 10%. In the current proposal the aim is to investigate mechanisms of resilience against stress-related disorders and to examine changes in quality of life, health, brain structure and brain function in individuals performing a "resilience" programme. Therefore, the investigators will recruit forty healthy subjects from the hospital staff exposed to "normal" day-to-day stress and not participating already in a fitness programme. Half of the subjects will be randomised to a cognitive behavioural self-experience and exercise programme for 20 weeks carried out by experienced supervisors, coaches and trainers. Clinical psychological and psychiatric examinations will be carried out weekly and a range of sophisticated neuroimaging techniques - high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) and functional MRI (fMRI) - will be conducted before and after the "resilience" program in order to investigate its effectiveness on brain structure and function. The stress system will also be tested by examining cortisol awaking response (CAR) and daily rhythms of cortisol secretion. These techniques are all well established in our laboratories. The proposed research will likely stimulate the development of new prevention strategies for this common and important disorder, and in the future could be applied to other illnesses. Moreover, when successful it could be patented and offered for implementation in the daily routine of median to large companies.

Conditions

Aerobic Exercise

Keywords

exercise; resilience; physiotherapy; fMRI

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Resting state functional MRI

  Magnetic resonance images from each participant were obtained with a Philips Achieva MRI scanner (Philips Medical System, Veenphuis 4-6, 5684 PC Best, The Netherlands) operating at 3 Tesla. The functional images were collected in single runs using a gradient echo (TE=28ms; TR=2000; field of view=131mm, flip angle=90°) sensitive to blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) contrast (T2\* weighting). A total of 37 contiguous 3.2 mm-thick slices were acquired parallel to the anterior posterior commissure plane (3mm approximately isotropic resolution), providing complete brain coverage. The fMRI run included 220 volumes acquired continuously lasting 7.2 min in total. Structural data (for definitive atlas transformation) included a high resolution sagittal, 3D T1-weighted Turbo Gradient Echo Sequence (TE=3.9ms, TR=8.5ms, TI=1060ms, flip angle=8°), 256×240 acquisition matrix, 1×1×1 mm voxels) scan. Resting state data were analysed using the software programs SPM8 and CONN

  16 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Questionnaire for mental well being

  16 weeks

• Questionnaire on physical activity

  16 weeks

• Questionnaire on physical health

  16 weeks

Study Arms (2)

Exercise

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants in this arm took part in the aerobic exercise component of the study and attended St. James's Hospital in Dublin twice a week for 16 weeks. Furthermore, exercising participants were asked to engage in recorded aerobic activity outside of the class, which followed a standardised progression from 1-3 additional sessions, at the same intensity as the week's class.

Behavioral: Aerobic Exercise

Control

NO INTERVENTION

Participants in the control group didn't change their sedentary habits.

Interventions

Aerobic Exercise BEHAVIORAL

Each exercise class consisted of a warm-up, an aerobic and a cool-down phase, supervised by a physiotherapist. The warm up and cool down phases consisted of 5-7 minutes of low intensity aerobic exercise, \< 40% Heart Rate Reserve (HHR), to allow the cardiopulmonary and musculoskeletal systems to adapt and recover, respectively. The aerobic component initially consisted of 21 minutes at an intensity of 40-59% HRR and was progressed to 42 minutes at 55-75% HRR by week 8 until programme completion. All participants worked at the same intensity and duration at the various time points throughout the study. Continuous, rhythmic exercise using large muscle groups was prescribed using treadmills, cycle ergometers and other aerobic exercise that increased heart rate to its prescribed level.

Exercise

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 65 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• healthy participants

You may not qualify if:

• internal or neurological disorders
• substance or alcohol abuse
• substance or alcohol dependency in the past
• cortisol therapy

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Dublin, Trinity College: lead

Related Publications (7)

• Prince M, Patel V, Saxena S, Maj M, Maselko J, Phillips MR, Rahman A. No health without mental health. Lancet. 2007 Sep 8;370(9590):859-77. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61238-0.

  PMID: 17804063 BACKGROUND

• Duman RS. Pathophysiology of depression: the concept of synaptic plasticity. Eur Psychiatry. 2002 Jul;17 Suppl 3:306-10. doi: 10.1016/s0924-9338(02)00654-5.

  PMID: 15177086 BACKGROUND

• Frodl TS, Koutsouleris N, Bottlender R, Born C, Jager M, Scupin I, Reiser M, Moller HJ, Meisenzahl EM. Depression-related variation in brain morphology over 3 years: effects of stress? Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008 Oct;65(10):1156-65. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.65.10.1156.

  PMID: 18838632 BACKGROUND

• Frodl T, Reinhold E, Koutsouleris N, Donohoe G, Bondy B, Reiser M, Moller HJ, Meisenzahl EM. Childhood stress, serotonin transporter gene and brain structures in major depression. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2010 May;35(6):1383-90. doi: 10.1038/npp.2010.8. Epub 2010 Feb 10.

  PMID: 20147891 BACKGROUND

• Dichter GS, Felder JN, Smoski MJ. The effects of Brief Behavioral Activation Therapy for Depression on cognitive control in affective contexts: An fMRI investigation. J Affect Disord. 2010 Oct;126(1-2):236-44. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2010.03.022. Epub 2010 Apr 24.

  PMID: 20421135 BACKGROUND

• Frodl T, Bokde AL, Scheuerecker J, Lisiecka D, Schoepf V, Hampel H, Moller HJ, Bruckmann H, Wiesmann M, Meisenzahl E. Functional connectivity bias of the orbitofrontal cortex in drug-free patients with major depression. Biol Psychiatry. 2010 Jan 15;67(2):161-7. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.08.022.

  PMID: 19811772 BACKGROUND

• Frodl T, Strehl K, Carballedo A, Tozzi L, Doyle M, Amico F, Gormley J, Lavelle G, O'Keane V. Aerobic exercise increases hippocampal subfield volumes in younger adults and prevents volume decline in the elderly. Brain Imaging Behav. 2020 Oct;14(5):1577-1587. doi: 10.1007/s11682-019-00088-6.

  PMID: 30927200 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Motor Activity

Interventions

Exercise

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Motor Activity; Movement; Musculoskeletal Physiological Phenomena; Musculoskeletal and Neural Physiological Phenomena

Study Officials

• Thomas Frodl, MD

  University of Dublin, Trinity College

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 28, 2015
• First Posted: September 4, 2015
• Study Start: October 1, 2011
• Primary Completion: October 1, 2014
• Study Completion: April 1, 2015
• Last Updated: September 4, 2015

Record last verified: 2015-09