Acute aerobic exercise and neuroplasticity of the motor cortex: A systematic review

Mellow, Maddison L.; Goldsworthy, Mitchell R.; Coussens, Scott; Smith, Ashleigh E.

doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2019.10.015

Cited by 48 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 40 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Previous research has shown that an acute bout of either moderate- (Singh et al 2014b) or high-intensity (Mang et al 2014) aerobic exercise prior to PAS significantly increases excitability (see (Mellow et al 2019) for review), but we did not see such effect in the present study. As in previous literature, the present study used rate of perceived exertion to set the intensity of the exercise bout.…”

Section: Possible Mechanisms For the Findingscontrasting

confidence: 90%

The effect of breaking up prolonged sitting on paired associative stimulation-induced plasticity

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Paired associative stimulation (PAS) can induce plasticity in the motor cortex, as measured by changes in corticospinal excitability (CSE). This effect is attenuated in older and less active individuals. Although a single bout of exercise enhances PAS-induced plasticity in young, physically inactive adults, it is not yet known if physical activity interventions affect PAS-induced neuroplasticity in middle-aged inactive individuals. Sixteen inactive middle-aged office workers participated in a randomized cross-over design investigating how CSE and short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) were affected by PAS preceded by 3 h of sitting (SIT), 3 h of sitting interrupted every 30 min by 3 min of frequent short bouts of physical activity (FPA) and 2.5 h of sitting followed by 25 min of moderate-intensity exercise (EXE). Transcranial magnetic stimulation was applied over the primary motor cortex (M1) of the dominant abductor pollicis brevis to induce recruitment curves before and 5 min and 30 min post-PAS. Linear mixed models were used to compare changes in CSE using time and condition as fixed effects and subjects as random effects. There was a main effect of time on CSE and planned within-condition comparisons showed that CSE was significantly increased from baseline to 5 min and 30 min post-PAS, in the FPA condition, with no significant changes in the SIT or EXE conditions. SICI decreased from baseline to 5 min post-PAS, but this was not related to changes in CSE. Our findings suggest that in middle-aged inactive adults, FPAs may promote corticospinal neuroplasticity. Possible mechanisms are discussed.

show abstract

Section: Possible Mechanisms For the Findingscontrasting

confidence: 90%

The effect of breaking up prolonged sitting on paired associative stimulation-induced plasticity

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Furthermore, the individuals’ amount of time spent with physical activity/sport and with revision were not correlated; thus, the subjects with shorter revision times per day did not spent more time with physical activity and sport. The latter are known to influence neuroplasticity (Ridding and Ziemann 2010 ; Rosenkranz et al 2007a , b ; Mellow et al 2020 ; Huang 2016 ). Here, the PASeffect changes induced by cognitive training were not influenced by the individuals’ level of sport and physical activity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intensity dependent effect of cognitive training on motor cortical plasticity and cognitive performance in humans

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Intervention-induced neuroplastic changes within the motor or cognitive system have been shown in the human brain. While cognitive and motor brain areas are densely interconnected, it is unclear whether this interconnectivity allows for a shared susceptibility to neuroplastic changes. Using the preparation for a theoretical exam as training intervention that primarily engages the cognitive system, we tested the hypothesis whether neuroplasticity acts across interconnected brain areas by investigating the effect on excitability and synaptic plasticity in the motor cortex. 39 healthy students (23 female) underwent 4 weeks of cognitive training while revision time, physical activity, concentration, fatigue, sleep quality and stress were monitored. Before and after cognitive training, cognitive performance was evaluated, as well as motor excitability using transcranial magnetic stimulation and long-term-potentiation-like (LTP-like) plasticity using paired-associative-stimulation (PAS). Cognitive training ranged individually from 1 to 7 h/day and enhanced attention and verbal working memory. While motor excitability did not change, LTP-like plasticity increased in an intensity-depending manner: the longer the daily revision time, the smaller the increase of neuroplasticity, and vice versa. This effect was not influenced by physical activity, concentration, fatigue, sleep quality or stress. Motor cortical plasticity is strengthened by a behavioural intervention that primarily engages cognitive brain areas. We suggest that this effect is due to an enhanced susceptibility to LTP-like plasticity, probably induced by heterosynaptic activity that modulates postsynaptic excitability in motorcortical neurones. The smaller increase of PAS efficiency with higher cognitive training intensity suggests a mechanism that balances and stabilises the susceptibility for synaptic potentiation.

show abstract

“…Such contrasting findings resulting from a wide variety of protocols limit our understanding of the effects of exercise characteristics on exercise-induced neuroplasticity. As recently emphasized by Mellow and colleagues [41], the diversity of experimental protocols makes it difficult to highlight any exercise characteristic primary influencing exercise-induced neuroplasticity [41]. For instance, the fatigue level induced by exercise directly affects CS excitability [40,41].…”

Section: Exercised Musclesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Locomotor activities as a way of inducing neuroplasticity: insights from conventional approaches and perspectives on eccentric exercises

2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Conventional locomotor exercise, such as cycling or walking, induces motor learning-like neuroplastic changes (i.e., decreased cortical inhibition and/or increased facilitation, assessed in a muscle using transcranial magnetic stimulation). These effects seem to be a consequence of humoral processes notably resulting from hemodynamic solicitation. Unfortunately, pathological populations may not be capable of exercising at sufficient intensities to trigger these beneficial neuroplastic modulations and an alternative method is needed. As it can be inferred from noninvasive brain and peripheral stimulation studies, a high neural activity can directly result in neuroplastic changes. Similarly, eccentric exercise (i.e., active lengthening of the muscle), during which individuals develop the same force or power as conventional exercise at lower cardiorespiratory intensities, requires a high brain neural activity. As single-joint eccentric exercise was decreased cortical inhibition and increased cortical facilitation, locomotor eccentric exercise may be even more potent by pooling neural and, maybe, hemodynamic neuroplastic processes.Further studies are required to understand the influence of locomotor exercise characteristics (e.g., intensity, duration) on exercise-induced neuroplasticity.

show abstract

Acute aerobic exercise and neuroplasticity of the motor cortex: A systematic review

Cited by 48 publications

References 40 publications

The effect of breaking up prolonged sitting on paired associative stimulation-induced plasticity

The effect of breaking up prolonged sitting on paired associative stimulation-induced plasticity

Intensity dependent effect of cognitive training on motor cortical plasticity and cognitive performance in humans

Locomotor activities as a way of inducing neuroplasticity: insights from conventional approaches and perspectives on eccentric exercises

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About