Randomized trial on the effects of a combined physical/cognitive training in aged MCI subjects: the Train the Brain study

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Age-related cognitive impairment and dementia are an increasing societal burden. Epidemiological studies indicate that lifestyle factors, e.g. physical, cognitive and social activities, correlate with reduced dementia risk; moreover, positive effects on cognition of physical/cognitive training have been found in cognitively unimpaired elders. Less is known about effectiveness and action mechanisms of physical/cognitive training in elders already suffering from Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), a population at high risk for dementia. We assessed in 113 MCI subjects aged 65–89 years, the efficacy of combined physical-cognitive training on cognitive decline, Gray Matter (GM) volume loss and Cerebral Blood Flow (CBF) in hippocampus and parahippocampal areas, and on brain-blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) activity elicited by a cognitive task, measured by ADAS-Cog scale, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) and fMRI, respectively, before and after 7 months of training vs. usual life. Cognitive status significantly decreased in MCI-no training and significantly increased in MCI-training subjects; training increased parahippocampal CBF, but no effect on GM volume loss was evident; BOLD activity increase, indicative of neural efficiency decline, was found only in MCI-no training subjects. These results show that a non pharmacological, multicomponent intervention improves cognitive status and indicators of brain health in MCI subjects.

Related collections

Most cited references 43

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

A specific amyloid-beta protein assembly in the brain impairs memory.

Sylvain Lesne, Ming Teng Koh, Linda Kotilinek … (2006)

Memory function often declines with age, and is believed to deteriorate initially because of changes in synaptic function rather than loss of neurons. Some individuals then go on to develop Alzheimer's disease with neurodegeneration. Here we use Tg2576 mice, which express a human amyloid-beta precursor protein (APP) variant linked to Alzheimer's disease, to investigate the cause of memory decline in the absence of neurodegeneration or amyloid-beta protein amyloidosis. Young Tg2576 mice ( 14 months old) form abundant neuritic plaques containing amyloid-beta (refs 3-6). We found that memory deficits in middle-aged Tg2576 mice are caused by the extracellular accumulation of a 56-kDa soluble amyloid-beta assembly, which we term Abeta*56 (Abeta star 56). Abeta*56 purified from the brains of impaired Tg2576 mice disrupts memory when administered to young rats. We propose that Abeta*56 impairs memory independently of plaques or neuronal loss, and may contribute to cognitive deficits associated with Alzheimer's disease.

0 comments Cited 646 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Cardiovascular fitness, cortical plasticity, and aging.

Stanley J. Colcombe, Arthur Kramer, Kirk I Erickson … (2004)

Cardiovascular fitness is thought to offset declines in cognitive performance, but little is known about the cortical mechanisms that underlie these changes in humans. Research using animal models shows that aerobic training increases cortical capillary supplies, the number of synaptic connections, and the development of new neurons. The end result is a brain that is more efficient, plastic, and adaptive, which translates into better performance in aging animals. Here, in two separate experiments, we demonstrate for the first time to our knowledge, in humans that increases in cardiovascular fitness results in increased functioning of key aspects of the attentional network of the brain during a cognitively challenging task. Specifically, highly fit (Study 1) or aerobically trained (Study 2) persons show greater task-related activity in regions of the prefrontal and parietal cortices that are involved in spatial selection and inhibitory functioning, when compared with low-fit (Study 1) or nonaerobic control (Study 2) participants. Additionally, in both studies there exist groupwise differences in activation of the anterior cingulate cortex, which is thought to monitor for conflict in the attentional system, and signal the need for adaptation in the attentional network. These data suggest that increased cardiovascular fitness can affect improvements in the plasticity of the aging human brain, and may serve to reduce both biological and cognitive senescence in humans.

0 comments Cited 457 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

A new rating scale for age-related white matter changes applicable to MRI and CT.

L Wahlund, F. Barkhof, F Fazekas … (2001)

MRI is more sensitive than CT for detection of age-related white matter changes (ARWMC). Most rating scales estimate the degree and distribution of ARWMC either on CT or on MRI, and they differ in many aspects. This makes it difficult to compare CT and MRI studies. To be able to study the evolution and possible effect of drug treatment on ARWMC in large patient samples, it is necessary to have a rating scale constructed for both MRI and CT. We have developed and evaluated a new scale and studied ARWMC in a large number of patients examined with both MRI and CT. Seventy-seven patients with ARWMC on either CT or MRI were recruited and a complementary examination (MRI or CT) performed. The patients came from 4 centers in Europe, and the scans were rated by 4 raters on 1 occasion with the new ARWMC rating scale. The interrater reliability was evaluated by using kappa statistics. The degree and distribution of ARWMC in CT and MRI scans were compared in different brain areas. Interrater reliability was good for MRI (kappa=0.67) and moderate for CT (kappa=0.48). MRI was superior in detection of small ARWMC, whereas larger lesions were detected equally well with both CT and MRI. In the parieto-occipital and infratentorial areas, MRI detected significantly more ARWMC than did CT. In the frontal area and basal ganglia, no differences between modalities were found. When a fluid-attenuated inversion recovery sequence was used, MRI detected significantly more lesions than CT in frontal and parieto-occipital areas. No differences were found in basal ganglia and infratentorial areas. We present a new ARWMC scale applicable to both CT and MRI that has almost equal sensitivity, except for certain regions. The interrater reliability was slightly better for MRI, as was the detectability of small lesions.

0 comments Cited 380 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Sci Rep

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Sci Rep

Title: Scientific Reports

Publisher: Nature Publishing Group

ISSN (Electronic): 2045-2322

Publication date (Electronic): 03 January 2017

Publication date Collection: 2017

Volume: 7

Electronic Location Identifier: 39471

Affiliations

[1 ]Institute of Neuroscience of the CNR , Via G. Moruzzi 1, 56100 Pisa, Italy

[2 ]Institute of Clinical Physiology of the CNR , Via G. Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy

[3 ]Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine-Neurology Unit, University of Pisa & AOU Pisa , Italy

[4 ]IRCCS Stella Maris , Viale del Tirreno 341, Calambrone, Italy

[5 ]Department of Surgical, Medical, Molecular Pathology and of Critical Care, University of Pisa , Via Savi 10, 56126, Pisa, Italy

[6 ]Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Pisa University , Via Savi 10, 56126 Pisa, Italy

[7 ]Department of Translational research and New technologies in Medicine and Surgery, Pisa University , Via Savi 10, 56126 Pisa, Italy

[8 ]Bertarelli Foundation Chair in Translational Neuroengineering, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Institute of Bioengineering, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne , CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland

[9 ]Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna , P.za Martiri della Libertà 33, 56127 Pisa, Italy

[10 ]National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), Pisa Section , Largo B. Pontecorvo, 3 56127, Pisa, Italy

Author notes

[a ] trainthebrain@ 123456in.cnr.it

Article

Publisher Item ID: srep39471

DOI: 10.1038/srep39471

PMC ID: 5206718

PubMed ID: 28045051

SO-VID: 9e22f32b-a421-441f-9b94-20cc0fadb7f1

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

History

Date received : 27 May 2016

Date accepted : 21 November 2016

Comments

Comment on this article

scite_

Cited by 60

See all cited by

Most referenced authors 1,415

See all reference authors

- Version 1

Randomized trial on the effects of a combined physical/cognitive training in aged MCI subjects: the Train the Brain study

Read this article at

Abstract

Related collections

Fandom activity

Most cited references 43

A specific amyloid-beta protein assembly in the brain impairs memory.

Cardiovascular fitness, cortical plasticity, and aging.

A new rating scale for age-related white matter changes applicable to MRI and CT.

Author and article information

Journal

Affiliations

Author notes

Article

History

Categories

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 172

Cited by 60

Most referenced authors 1,415