Mild Cognitive Impairment
Conditions
Keywords
Exercise, Memory, Brain
Brief summary
This study will measure brain structure through its mechanical properties, assessed with magnetic resonance elastography, and determine whether it improves with aerobic exercise in older adults with low memory abilities. Additionally, this study will determine if memory abilities improve with exercise and if they are related to brain structure. Overall, this project has the potential to identify how brain health is impacted by exercise in older adults.
Detailed description
Mechanical properties of the human brain, measured with magnetic resonance elastography (MRE), reflect the health of brain tissue. Our previous research has shown that these mechanical properties of the hippocampus are highly sensitive to memory function in young adults. Based on these findings, we believe that these mechanical properties may be strong indicators of memory health in older adults and populations experiencing decline in memory function (i.e. mild cognitive impairment, MCI). Further, our results indicate these properties and associated functions are positively impacted by fitness and exercise training, thus making them potentially ideal markers for brain health in assessing rehabilitation. The objective of this research is to examine these properties in older adults with and without MCI. We will do the following: (1) determine if there are differences in mechanical properties of memory systems in older adults with and without MCI; (2) establish structure-function relationships between mechanical properties and memory performance in the older adult population; and (3) determine if both mechanical properties and memory performance are impacted by cardiovascular health, both through cross-sectional assessment of aerobic fitness and longitudinal response to exercise training.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALAerobic exercise
Participants will complete 12 weeks of supervised aerobic exercise, 3 times per week, on a treadmill or stationary bicycle
BEHAVIORALStretching
Participants will complete 12 weeks of supervised stretching, 3 times per week
Sponsors
Christiana Care Health Services
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
University of Delaware
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
60 Years to 90 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Cognitive function scores consistent with amnestic mild cognitive impairment based on pre-screening evaluation * age 60-90 years * MMSE score \>24 at time of initial consent
Exclusion criteria
* major psychiatric disorder (e.g. schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression within past two years) * neurological or autoimmune conditions affecting cognition (e.g. Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, head trauma with loss of consciousness greater than 30 min, large vessel infarct) * other systemic medical illnesses (e.g. cardiovascular disease, cancer, renal failure, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, liver diseases, hypertension) * current medication use likely to affect CNS functions (e.g. long active benzodiazepines) * failed outcome on the baseline graded exercise test * hypertension (systolic 130+ mmHg OR diastolic 80+ mmHg) from baseline blood pressure measurement * claustrophobia, metal implants, pacemaker or other factors affecting feasibility and/or safety of MRI scanning * concussion within last 2 years and more than 3 lifetime concussions * current smoking (including marijuana) within the past 3 months
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in brain mechanical properties | Baseline, 12 weeks | Investigators are assessing change in brain structure through mechanical properties in response to exercise from baseline to the end of the 12 week program. An MRI scan with magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) will be used to measure properties of brain regions important to memory (e.g. hippocampus). |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in relational memory performance | Baseline, 12 weeks | Behavioral memory test will be used to assess relational memory through accuracy on a spatial reconstruction task. |
| Change in cardiorespiratory fitness | Baseline, 12 weeks | Graded exercise test will measure cardiorespiratory fitness through volume of oxygen uptake (VO2) |
Other
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in brain morphometry | Baseline, 12 weeks | MRI will be used to measure brain morphometry, i.e. volume |
| Change in cognitive function | Baseline, 12 weeks | NIH Toolbox will be used to assess cognitive function across several domains |
| Change in brain function | Baseline, 12 weeks | MRI will be used to measure brain function, i.e. functional connectivity |
| Change in brain white matter integrity | Baseline, 12 weeks | Diffusion MRI will be used to measure integrity of white matter tracts |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed