Abstract #0397

One-year aerobic exercise increases regional cerebral blood flow in anterior cingulate cortex: a blinded, randomized trial in patients with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment

Binu P. Thomas¹, Takashi Tarumi², Min Sheng¹, Benjamin Y. Tseng², Kyle Womack³, Munro C. Cullum⁴, Rong Zhang^2,5, and Hanzhang Lu^1,6

¹Advanced Imaging Research Center, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States, ²Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, Dallas, TX, United States, ³Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutic, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States, ⁴Department of Psychiatry, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States, ⁵Department of Internal Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States, ⁶Department of Radiology & Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States

Amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) represents the early stage of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Much research has focused on preventing the inevitable decline of MCI to AD. Aerobic exercise is considered a viable choice, and is shown to improve cognitive function in MCI. We focus on understanding the mechanisms that lead to this improvement. Pseudo-continuous-arterial-spin-labeling (PCASL) was used to assess resting cerebral blood flow (CBF) in two MCI groups. One group performed aerobic exercise, while another non-aerobic stretching. CBF was measured before and after training. CBF increase in the anterior-cingulate-cortex (ACC) was the proven mechanism that improves cognitive function in MCI.

This abstract and the presentation materials are available to members only; a login is required.

Join Here