Brain Plasticity Following Aerobic Exercise in Patient With Mild Cognitive Impairment: Neuroimaging Study

Overview

The proposed study aims to explore brain mechanisms mediating the cognitive benefits of aerobic exercise in patients with mild cognitive impairment- a prodromal stage of Alzheimer disease. We will perform FMRI experiments, as well as laboratory and behavioral tests that will advance our knowledge about the nature of these mechanisms. Participants will participate in individual- tailored aerobic training program. Pre and post evaluation will identify brain changes following the training using advanced techniques of brain imaging. Cognitive performance will be assessed prior and at the end of the program, as well as endocrine markers reflecting improvement in learning abilities. Moreover, demonstrating cortical plasticity in subjects with aMCI has tremendous practical significance for these subjects .

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a prodromal stage of Alzheimer disease (AD), refers to a transitional state between the cognition of normal aging and dementia such AD. To date, therapeutic approaches to AD are symptomatic and of modest efficacy. Nontheless, recent studies in animal models or healthy subjects, have shown that aerobic exercise affect brain plasticity. The current proposal aims at exploring the brain mechanisms mediating the cognitive benefits of aerobic exercise in patients with amnestic MCI (aMCI),in compare to a control group of subjects with aMCI receiving stretching exercise. More specifically, we aim to perform two fMRI experiments, that will advance our knowledge about the nature of mechanism of the cognitive benefit resulting of aerobic exercise. Our preleminary results suggest that subjects with aMCI show different hierarchy of reliable responses when processing long time scales in auditory task. Therefore, in the first experiment, we will evaluate how these patterns of temporal hierarchy of language processing are affected by aerobic exercise. Next, we will explore whether aerobic exercise affect memory enocoding task, which rely on areas in the medial temporal lobe who bear a heavy neuropathological burden in MCI. The insights gained from the study may have important clinical implications for patients who are at the early stages of Alzheimer's disease