Impact of a 12-week aerobic exercise intervention on interhemispheric inhibition and motor control in sedentary older adults Open Access
Omar, Javier (Spring 2019)
Abstract
Previous cross-sectional work has shown there to be a general pattern of decreased interhemispheric inhibition and increased bilateral activation during a unimanual motor task in sedentary older adults as compared to aerobically active adults. The current study aimed to examine the impact of a 12-week aerobic exercise intervention on relateralizing motor function to a single hemisphere in sedentary older adults. Twenty-four participants were randomized into an aerobic spin cycling exercise group or a non-aerobic balance training group. Participants completed a pre- and post-intervention battery of motor control tasks and a pre- and post-intervention cardiovascular fitness assessment (estimated VO2max). Magnetic resonance images were acquired prior to and after the intervention and a block-design, right-hand motor task was used to evaluate interhemispheric cortical activation patterns. The aerobic exercise group showed significant improvements in their cardiovascular fitness as compared to the balance group. A significant decrease in bilateral primary motor cortex (M1) activity was not observed between the aerobic exercise group and the balance group. It was observed that those who completed the aerobic exercise intervention showed less left M1 and supplementary motor area (SMA) activity as compared to those who completed the non-aerobic balance intervention. Significant differences in motor performance were not observed between the groups although there was a trend for improved motor performance for those in the aerobic exercise condition as compared to those in the balance condition. In conclusion, the current study provides preliminary evidence indicating that a 12-week aerobic exercise intervention has the potential to alter cortical activation patterns. The present work also provides evidence suggesting that these changes in cortical activation patterns may be associated with clinically relevant improvements in motor functioning. Additional work is needed to precisely characterize the differential changes in cortical activation patterns between the right (ipsilateral) and left (contralateral) primary motor cortices after an acute aerobic exercise intervention and the rehabilitative significance associated with those changes.
Table of Contents
Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………. 1
Methods ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 7
Assessments ……………………………………………………………………………….. 11
Functional Imaging ………………………………………………………………………... 12
Data Analysis ……………………………………………………………………………….. 17
Results ………………………………………………………………………………………………... 18
Discussion …………………………………………………………………………………………… 19
Tables and Figures
Table 1 ………………………………………………………………………………………… 25
Table 2 ………………………………………………………………………………………… 26
Table 3 ………………………………………………………………………………………… 27
Table 4 ………………………………………………………………………………………… 28
Figure 1 ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 29
Figure 2 ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 30
Figure 3 ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 31
Figure 4 ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 32
Figure 5 ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 33
Table 5 ………………………………………………………………………………………… 34
References ……………………………………………….………………….………………………... 35
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