Amanda L. Rodrigue

An 8-Month Randomized Controlled Exercise Trial Alters Brain Activation During Cognitive Tasks in Overweight Children

Children who are less fit reportedly have lower performance on tests of cognitive control and differences in brain function. This study examined the effect of an exercise intervention on brain function during two cognitive control tasks in overweight children.

An 8-month exercise intervention alters frontotemporal white matter integrity in overweight children.

In childhood, excess adiposity and low fitness are linked to poor academic performance, lower cognitive function, and differences in brain structure. Identifying ways to mitigate obesity-related alterations is of current clinical importance. This study examined the effects of an 8-month exercise intervention on the uncinate fasciculus, a white matter fiber tract connecting frontal and temporal lobes. Participants consisted of 18 unfit, overweight 8- to 11-year-old children (94% Black) who were randomly assigned to either an aerobic exercise (n = 10) or a sedentary control group (n = 8). Before and after the intervention, all subjects participated in a diffusion tensor MRI scan. Tractography was conducted to isolate the uncinate fasciculus. The exercise group showed improved white matter integrity as compared to the control group. These findings are consistent with an emerging literature suggesting beneficial effects of exercise on white matter integrity.

Improved Frontoparietal White Matter Integrity in Overweight Children Is Associated with Attendance at an After-School Exercise Program

Aerobic fitness is associated with white matter integrity (WMI) in adults as measured by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). This study examined the effect of an 8-month exercise intervention on WMI in children. Participants were 18 sedentary, overweight (BMI ≥85th percentile) 8- to 11-year-old children (94% Black), randomly assigned to either an aerobic exercise (n = 10) or sedentary attention control group (n = 8). Each group was offered an instructor-led after-school program every school day for approximately 8 months. Before and after the program, all subjects participated in DTI scans. Tractography was conducted to isolate the superior longitudinal fasciculus and investigate whether the exercise intervention affected WMI in this region. There was no group by time interaction for WMI in the superior longitudinal fasciculus. There was a group by time by attendance interaction, however, such that higher attendance at the exercise intervention, but not the control intervention, was associated with increased WMI. Heart rate and the total dose of exercise correlated with WMI changes in the exercise group. In the overall sample, increased WMI was associated with improved scores on a measure of attention and improved teacher ratings of executive function. This study indicates that participating in an exercise intervention improves WMI in children as compared to a sedentary after-school program.

AN EIGHT MONTH RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED EXERCISE INTERVENTION ALTERS RESTING STATE SYNCHRONY IN OVERWEIGHT CHILDREN

Children with low aerobic fitness have altered brain function compared to higher-fit children. This study examined the effect of an 8-month exercise intervention on resting state synchrony. Twenty-two sedentary, overweight (body mass index ≥85th percentile) children 8-11 years old were randomly assigned to one of two after-school programs: aerobic exercise (n=13) or sedentary attention control (n=9). Before and after the 8-month programs, all subjects participated in resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans. Independent components analysis identified several networks, with four chosen for between-group analysis: salience, default mode, cognitive control, and motor networks. The default mode, cognitive control, and motor networks showed more spatial refinement over time in the exercise group compared to controls. The motor network showed increased synchrony in the exercise group with the right medial frontal gyrus compared to controls. Exercise behavior may enhance brain development in children.

The relationship between uncinate fasciculus white matter integrity and verbal memory proficiency in children

During childhood, verbal learning and memory are important for academic performance. Recent functional MRI studies have reported on the functional correlates of verbal memory proficiency, but few have reported the underlying structural correlates. The present study sought to test the relationship between fronto-temporal white matter integrity and verbal memory proficiency in children. Diffusion weighted images were collected from 17 Black children (age 8–11 years) who also completed the California Verbal Learning Test. To index white matter integrity, fractional anisotropy values were calculated for bilateral uncinate fasciculus. The results revealed that low anisotropy values corresponded to poor verbal memory, whereas high anisotropy values corresponded to significantly better verbal memory scores. These findings suggest that a greater degree of myelination and cohesiveness of axonal fibers in uncinate fasciculus underlie better verbal memory proficiency in children.

Brain activation differences in schizophrenia during context-dependent processing of saccade tasks

BackgroundBrain function in schizophrenia has been probed using saccade paradigms and functional magnetic resonance imaging, but little information exists about how changing task context impacts saccade related brain activation and behavioral performance. We recruited schizophrenia and comparison subjects to perform saccade tasks in differing contexts: (1) two single task runs (anti- or pro-saccades alternating with fixation) and (2) one dual task run (antisaccades alternating with prosaccades).ResultsContext-dependent differences in saccade circuitry were evaluated using ROI analyses. Distinction between anti- and pro-saccade activation across contexts (single versus dual task) suggests that the schizophrenia group did not respond to context in the same way as the comparison group.ConclusionsFurther investigation of context processing effects on brain activation and saccade performance measures informs models of cognitive deficits in the disorder and enhances understanding of antisaccades as a potential endophenotype for schizophrenia.

White matter structural integrity differs between people with schizophrenia and healthy groups as a function of cognitive control

A behavioral hallmark of schizophrenia is poor cognitive control. Recent evidence suggests that problems with cognitive control in schizophrenia are related to disconnectivity along major white matter fibers. Although deficits of cognitive control are common in schizophrenia, a proportion of otherwise healthy subjects show poor cognitive control performance. The present study sought to address this potential confound by comparing white matter integrity between a group with schizophrenia and otherwise healthy individuals with either high or low levels of cognitive control (based on working memory span performance). Diffusion tensor imaging was used to evaluate white matter integrity in 24 participants with schizophrenia, 24 healthy participants with high cognitive control (HCC), and 25 healthy participants with low cognitive control (LCC). To test for differences in fractional anisotropy (FA) across major white matter fiber tracts, a voxelwise region of interest analysis was conducted in standardized brain space. In a separate analysis, regions of interest were manually drawn in native brain space to isolate superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), a tract implicated in cognitive control performance. The voxelwise analysis demonstrated widespread lower FA in the schizophrenia group compared to the HCC group. With a high degree of concordance, the manual ROI analysis revealed lower FA in the schizophrenia group compared to the HCC group. Taken together, these results provide evidence to suggest that structural differences identified between healthy groups and schizophrenia may not be entirely specific to the disease process and can vary as a function of cognitive control capacity in the comparison group.

Increased functional connectivity in intrinsic neural networks in individuals with aniridia.

Mutations affecting the PAX6 gene result in aniridia, a condition characterized by the lack of an iris and other panocular defects. Among humans with aniridia, structural abnormalities also have been reported within the brain. The current study examined the functional implications of these deficits through “resting state” or task-free functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 12 individuals with aniridia and 12 healthy age- and gender-matched controls. Using independent components analysis (ICA) and dual regression, individual patterns of functional connectivity associated with three intrinsic connectivity networks (ICNs; executive control, primary visual, and default mode) were compared across groups. In all three analyses, the aniridia group exhibited regions of greater connectivity correlated with the network, while the controls did not show any such regions. These differences suggest that individuals with aniridia recruit additional neural regions to supplement function in critical intrinsic networks, possibly due to inherent structural or sensory abnormalities related to the disorder.

White matter fiber integrity of the saccadic eye movement network differs between schizophrenia and healthy groups

Recent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies suggest that altered white matter fiber integrity is a pathophysiological feature of schizophrenia. Lower white matter integrity is associated with poor cognitive control, a characteristic of schizophrenia that can be measured using antisaccade tasks. Although the functional neural correlates of poor antisaccade performance have been well documented, fewer studies have investigated the extent to which white matter fibers connecting the functional nodes of this network contribute to antisaccade performance. The aim of the present study was to assess the white matter structural integrity of fibers connecting two functional nodes (putamen and medial frontal eye fields) of the saccadic eye movement network implicated in poor antisaccade performance in schizophrenia. To evaluate white matter integrity, DTI was acquired on subjects with schizophrenia and two comparison groups: (a) behaviorally matched healthy comparison subjects with low levels of cognitive control (LCC group), and (b) healthy subjects with high levels of cognitive control (HCC group). White matter fibers were tracked between functional regions of interest generated from antisaccade fMRI activation maps, and measures of diffusivity were quantified. The results demonstrated lower white matter integrity in the schizophrenia group than in the HCC group, but not the LCC group who showed similarly poor cognitive control performance. Overall, the results suggest that these alterations are not specific to the disease process of schizophrenia, but may rather be a function of uncontrolled cognitive factors that are concomitant with the disease but also observed in some healthy people.

Plasticity of prefrontal cortex connectivity in schizophrenia in response to antisaccade practice

People with schizophrenia exhibit difficulties in cognitive control that are often attributed to deficits in prefrontal cortex (PFC) circuitry. Practice paradigms have been used to improve these PFC-mediated deficits. The neural consequences of practice on task-based PFC activation have been addressed. Effects on task-based PFC connectivity, however, are largely unknown. We recruited people with schizophrenia and controls to practice antisaccades, a measure of PFC-mediated cognitive control that is disrupted in people with schizophrenia. Subjects performed antisaccades during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before and after eight days of antisaccade practice. A group (schizophrenia, controls) × time (pre-, post-test) repeated measures ANOVA on the results of a psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis was used to evaluate changes in PFC connectivity; a similar model was used to evaluate changes in antisaccade behavior. After practice, antisaccade behavior improved and PFC connectivity with insular/temporal regions (involved in bottom-up orienting processes) increased in the schizophrenia group. The level of connectivity at post-test in the schizophrenia group was similar to that seen at pre-test in controls and positively correlated with antisaccade performance. Increases in connectivity between bottom-up and top-down regions may underlie behavioral improvements in people with schizophrenia after cognitive control practice.