Abstract
Although endurance running (ER) seems to be a simple repetitive exercise, good ER performance also requires and relies on multiple cognitive and motor control processes. Most of previous neuroimaging studies on ER were conducted using a single MRI modality, yet no multimodal study to our knowledge has been performed in this regard. In this study, we used multimodal MRI data to investigate the brain structural and functional differences between endurance runners (n = 22; age = 26.27 ± 6.07 years; endurance training = 6.23 ± 2.41 years) and healthy controls (HCs; n = 20; age = 24.60 ± 4.14 years). Compared with the HCs, the endurance runners showed greater gray matter volume (GMV) and cortical surface area in the left precentral gyrus, which at the same time had higher functional connectivity (FC) with the right postcentral and precentral gyrus. Subcortically, the endurance runners showed greater GMV in the left hippocampus and regional inflation in the right hippocampus. Using the bilateral hippocampi as seeds, further seed-based FC analyses showed higher hippocampal FC with the supplementary motor area, middle cingulate cortex, and left posterior lobe of the cerebellum. Moreover, compared with the HCs, the endurance runners also showed higher fractional anisotropy in several white matter regions, involving the corpus callosum, left internal capsule, left corona radiata, left external capsule, left posterior lobe of cerebellum and bilateral precuneus. Taken together, our findings provide several lines of evidence for the brain structural and functional differences between endurance runners and HCs. The current data suggest that these brain characteristics may have arisen as a result of regular ER training; however, whether they represent the neural correlates underlying the good ER performances of the endurance runners requires further investigations.
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Acknowledgements
This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant Number 11002036]; the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [Grant Number 2672018ZYGX2018J075]; the Humanities and Social Science of Shenzhen University [Grant Number 17QNFC59]; and the Youth cultivation program of Xi'an Health Commission [Grant Number 2020QN03].
Funding
This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant Number 11002036]; the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [Grant Number 2672018ZYGX2018J075]; the Humanities and Social Science of Shenzhen University [Grant Number 17QNFC59]; and the Youth cultivation program of Xi'an Health Commission [Grant Number 2020QN03].
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LC was responsible for the methodology development, formal analysis, manuscript writing (preparation and editing), and data visualization; YCZ was responsible for the study conceptualization, methodology development and validation, formal analysis, manuscript writing (preparation and editing), data visualization, and funding acquisition; RWH, LXL, FGX, LYZ, QY and JYL were responsible for the study investigation; FH, SP, PM, MD and PL were responsible for the writing (editing); YW was responsible for the methodology development and writing (preparation); YDM was responsible for the study investigation; HFZ, SCQ and JLW were responsible for the study investigation and project administration; ZBR was responsible for the study conceptualization, investigation and supervision, project administration, writing (editing), and funding acquisition. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript, and agree with the order of presentation of the authors.
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Cao, L., Zhang, Y., Huang, R. et al. Structural and functional brain signatures of endurance runners. Brain Struct Funct 226, 93–103 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-020-02170-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-020-02170-y