Molecular and Brain Volume Changes Following Aerobic Exercise, Cognitive and Combined Training in Physically Inactive Healthy Late-Middle-Aged Adults: The Projecte Moviment Randomized Controlled Trial

Alba Castells-Sánchez; Francesca Roig-Coll; Rosalía Dacosta-Aguayo; Noemí Lamonja-Vicente; Pere Torán-Monserrat; Guillem Pera; Alberto García-Molina; José Maria Tormos; Pilar Montero-Alía; Antonio Heras-Tébar; Juan José Soriano-Raya; Cynthia Cáceres; Sira Domènech; Marc Via; Kirk I Erickson; Maria Mataró

doi:10.3389/fnhum.2022.854175

Molecular and Brain Volume Changes Following Aerobic Exercise, Cognitive and Combined Training in Physically Inactive Healthy Late-Middle-Aged Adults: The Projecte Moviment Randomized Controlled Trial

Front Hum Neurosci. 2022 Apr 20:16:854175. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.854175. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Alba Castells-Sánchez^{1

2}, Francesca Roig-Coll^{1

2}, Rosalía Dacosta-Aguayo^{1

3

4}, Noemí Lamonja-Vicente^{1

2

3

5}, Pere Torán-Monserrat^{3

6}, Guillem Pera³, Alberto García-Molina^{4

7}, José Maria Tormos^{4

7}, Pilar Montero-Alía³, Antonio Heras-Tébar³, Juan José Soriano-Raya^{1

2}, Cynthia Cáceres⁸, Sira Domènech⁹, Marc Via^{1

2

5}, Kirk I Erickson^{10

11}, Maria Mataró^{1

2

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
² Institut de Neurociències, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
³ Unitat de Suport a la Recerca Metropolitana Nord, Fundació Institut Universitari per a la Recerca a l'Atenció Primària de Salut Jordi Gol i Gurina, Mataró, Spain.
⁴ Institut d'Investigació en Ciències de la Salut Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP), Badalona, Spain.
⁵ Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu, Esplugues de Llobregat, Spain.
⁶ Department of Medicine, Universitat de Girona, Girona, Spain.
⁷ Institut Guttmann, Institut Universitari de Neurorehabilitació, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Badalona, Spain.
⁸ Department of Neurosciences, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona, Spain.
⁹ Institut de Diagnòstic per la Imatge, Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona, Spain.
¹⁰ Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States.
¹¹ Discipline of Exercise Science, College of Science, Health, Engineering and Education, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, Australia.

Abstract

Behavioral interventions have shown promising neuroprotective effects, but the cascade of molecular, brain and behavioral changes involved in these benefits remains poorly understood. Projecte Moviment is a 12-week (5 days per week-45 min per day) multi-domain, single-blind, proof-of-concept randomized controlled trial examining the cognitive effect and underlying mechanisms of an aerobic exercise (AE), computerized cognitive training (CCT) and a combined (COMB) groups compared to a waitlist control group. Adherence was > 80% for 82/109 participants recruited (62% female; age = 58.38 ± 5.47). In this study we report intervention-related changes in plasma biomarkers (BDNF, TNF-α, HGF, ICAM-1, SDF1-α) and structural-MRI (brain volume) and how they related to changes in physical activity and individual variables (age and sex) and their potential role as mediators in the cognitive changes. Our results show that although there were no significant changes in molecular biomarker concentrations in any intervention group, changes in ICAM-1 and SDF1-α were negatively associated with changes in physical activity outcomes in AE and COMB groups. Brain volume changes were found in the CCT showing a significant increase in precuneus volume. Sex moderated the brain volume change in the AE and COMB groups, suggesting that men may benefit more than women. Changes in molecular biomarkers and brain volumes did not significantly mediate the cognitive-related benefits found previously for any group. This study shows crucial initial molecular and brain volume changes related to lifestyle interventions at early stages and highlights the value of examining activity parameters, individual difference characteristics and using a multi-level analysis approach to address these questions.

Keywords: BDNF; aerobic exercise; brain volume; combined training; computerized cognitive training; neuroinflammation.

Copyright © 2022 Castells-Sánchez, Roig-Coll, Dacosta-Aguayo, Lamonja-Vicente, Torán-Monserrat, Pera, García-Molina, Tormos, Montero-Alía, Heras-Tébar, Soriano-Raya, Cáceres, Domènech, Via, Erickson and Mataró.