Acute Sprint Interval Exercise Increases Both Cognitive Functions and Peripheral Neurotrophic Factors in Humans: The Possible Involvement of Lactate

Sylwester Kujach; Robert Antoni Olek; Kyeongho Byun; Kazuya Suwabe; Emilia J Sitek; Ewa Ziemann; Radosław Laskowski; Hideaki Soya

doi:10.3389/fnins.2019.01455

Acute Sprint Interval Exercise Increases Both Cognitive Functions and Peripheral Neurotrophic Factors in Humans: The Possible Involvement of Lactate

Front Neurosci. 2020 Jan 23:13:1455. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2019.01455. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Sylwester Kujach^{1

2}, Robert Antoni Olek², Kyeongho Byun^{3

4}, Kazuya Suwabe³, Emilia J Sitek^{5

6}, Ewa Ziemann², Radosław Laskowski¹, Hideaki Soya^{3

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physiology, Faculty of Physical Education, Gdansk University of Physical Education and Sport, Gdańsk, Poland.
² Department of Athletics, Strength and Conditioning, Poznań University of Physical Education, Poznań, Poland.
³ Sports Neuroscience Division, Advanced Research Initiative for Human High Performance, Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan.
⁴ Division of Sport Science, Incheon National University, Incheon, South Korea.
⁵ Neurological and Psychiatric Nursing Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.
⁶ Neurology Department, St. Adalbert's Hospital, Poznań, Poland.
⁷ Laboratory of Exercise Biochemistry and Neuroendocrinology, Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan.

Abstract

There is increasing attention to sprint interval exercise (SIE) training as a time-efficient exercise regime. Recent studies, including our own (Kujach et al., 2018), have shown that acute high-intensity intermittent exercise can improve cognitive function; however, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the effect still remain unknown. We thus examined the effects of acute SIE on cognitive function by monitoring the peripheral levels of growth and neurotrophic factors as well as blood lactate (LA) as potential mechanisms. Thirty-six young males participated in the current study and were divided into two groups: SIE (n = 20; mean age: 21.0 ± 0.9 years) and resting control (CTR) (n = 16; mean age: 21.7 ± 1.3 years). The SIE session consisted of 5 min of warm-up exercise and six sets of 30 s of all-out cycling exercise followed by 4.5 min of rest on a cycling-ergometer. Blood samples to evaluate the changes of serum concentrations of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and blood LA were obtained at three time points: before, immediately after, and 60 min after each session. A Stroop task (ST) and trail making test (TMT) parts A and B were used to assess cognitive functions. Acute SIE shortened response times for both the ST and TMT A and B. Meanwhile, the peripheral levels of BDNF, IGF-1, and VEGF were significantly increased after an acute bout of SIE compared to those in CTR. In response to acute SIE, blood LA levels significantly increased and correlated with increased levels of BDNF, IGF-1, and VEGF. Furthermore, cognitive function and BDNF are found to be correlated. The current results suggest that SIE could have beneficial effects on cognitive functions with increased neuroprotective factors along with peripheral LA concentration in humans.

Keywords: BDNF; IGF-1; VEGF; blood lactate; cognitive function; sprint interval exercise.