Physical Exercise
Conditions
Keywords
Addiction circuitry, Binge drinking, Neuroimaging
Brief summary
The aim of the present study is to apply neuroimaging techniques to investigate how physical exercise may influence the addiction circuitry, ultimately reducing alcohol consumption and craving in youth binge drinkers. This proposal will advance knowledge on how exercise may modulate the neurocircuitry of addiction. Uncovering the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the interactive neural effects of exercise and alcohol intake may provide additional scientific insights for the development of preventive and intervention programs for youth BD and AUD.
Detailed description
The proposed research plan focuses on the identification of changes in the structural and functional brain parameters (e.g. volume, brain activity), in response to a physical exercise (PE) protocol, on the neurocircuitry of addiction, after a 4 month-intervention program in college binge drinkers (BDs). The main objectives of this proposal are: O1) to evaluate the potential benefits of PE on the brain structure and function, particularly in the neurocircuitry of addiction, in a sample of Portuguese college students with a binge drinking pattern of alcohol use; and O2) to determine whether the PE intervention reduces craving and alcohol consumption levels in BDs. The present project will involve: i) a pre-intervention comprehensive evaluation of behavioral (alcohol consumption), psychological (craving levels), physiological (VO2, HRV), and neurological (neuroimaging) variables; ii) a training phase consisting of 48 sessions (3 weekly sessions\*16 weeks) of aerobic (exp group 1), agility-cognitive (exp group 2) exercise and stretching (control group; iii) a post-intervention evaluation of behavioral, physiological, and neurological (neuroimaging) variables; iv) and a 6 months' follow- up evaluation of behavioral, physiologicaln and cognitive variables. A randomized controlled trial will be implemented at the University of Minho. It will include a total of 60 college students with a binge drinking pattern of alcohol intake, 20 participants per condition.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALAerobic Exercise
Participants allocated to the Aerobic condition will be following a 4 month-intervention aerobic exercise protocol of 3 weekly interleaved sessions with a 50 minutes duration
BEHAVIORALAgility-Cognitive Exercise
Participants allocated to the Agility-Cognitive condition will be following a 4 month-intervention agility-cognitive exercise protocol of 3 weekly interleaved sessions with a 50 minutes duration
BEHAVIORALStretching/relaxation
Participants allocated to the stretching control condition will be following a 4 month-intervention protocol of 1 weekly session with a 50 minutes duration
Sponsors
University of Minho
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Intervention model description
The protocol includes a randomized controlled trial with a follow-up at three months involving three groups of adolescents (18-24 Y) -experimental group 1, will be enrolled in the Aerobic program, experimental group 2 will be involved in the agility program, and an active control group that will be participating in a stretching program. Participants will be randomly assigned to each group.
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 24 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* binge drinking \> or = 5 ; \> or =4 for women alcoholic drinks * in the same time window (±2h) * at least once per month * \<150 minutes of physical activity per week
Exclusion criteria
* Major and/or unstable medical conditions * Physical limitations that may constraint the practice of exercise * Cardiovascular and respiratory insufficiency * History of traumatic brain injury or neurological disorder * Non-corrected sensory deficits * Personal history of psychopathological disorders * Family history of alcoholism or substance abuse in first degree relatives * Consumption of medical drugs with psychoactive effects (e.g., sedatives or anxiolytics) during the month previous to the assessment * Use of illegal drugs and AUDIT scores \>20 * MRI contraindications * Current or previous (past year) participation in a physical exercise program
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Brain function-resting state | Through study completion, an average of 1 year | Functional connectivity for resting-state fMRI |
| Brain structural connectivity- FA | Through study completion, an average of 1 year | Structural connectivity-fractional anisotropy-scalar value between zero and one within a voxel that describes the degree of anisotropy of a diffusion process |
| Brain structural connectivity - MD | Through study completion, an average of 1 year | Structural connectivity-mean diffusivity-a scalar measure between zero and one that describes the total diffusion within a voxel |
| Brain structural connectivity - AD | Through study completion, an average of 1 year | Structural connectivity-axial diffusivity-a scalar measure between zero and one within a voxel that describes the magnitude of diffusion parallel to fiber tracts. |
| Brain structural connectivity - RD | Through study completion, an average of 1 year | Structural connectivity-radial diffusivity-a scalar measure between zero and one within a voxel that describes the magnitude of diffusion parallel to fiber tracts. |
| Brain function | Through study completion, an average of 1 year | Bold signal for Task-related fMRI |
| Behavioral: alcohol consumption | Through study completion, an average of 1 year | Number of drinks per binge drinking episode |
| Behavioral: binge episodes | Through study completion, an average of 1 year | Number of binge drinking episodes |
| Behavioral : drunkenness | Through study completion, an average of 1 year | Percentage of drunkenness |
| Psychological (craving levels) | Through study completion, an average of 1 year | Scores in the Alcohol Craving Questionnaire (The cutoff points for total scale points are: 12-17 = minimal desire, 18-25 = mild, 26-42 = moderate and 43 or more = severe) |
| Brain structure | Through study completion, an average of 1 year | Structure-volume in liters |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Monetary Incentive Delay Task (included in the fMRI paradigm) - reaction time | Through study completion, an average of 1 year | Reaction times, measured as seconds needed to give a response to assess the hypothetical differences in participant's level of achievement between the pretest, posttest and follow-up assessments. |
| Maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) | Through study completion, an average of 1 year | VO2max (ml/kg/min) will be measured in the pretest and posttest evaluations to assess the effects of the physical exercise protocol on cardiovascular fitness. |
| Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) | Through study completion, an average of 1 year | BDNF (pg/ml) concentrations measured in saliva will be measured in pre-intervention, post-intervention, at the midpoint of the intervention (2 months), and at the follow-up to assess the effects of the physical exercise protocol on neuroplasticity-related molecular markers. |
| Dopamine | Through study completion, an average of 1 year | Dopamine (pg/ml) concentrations measured in urine will be measured in pre-intervention, post-intervention, at the midpoint of the intervention (2 months), and at the follow-up to assess the effects of the physical exercise protocol on reward-related molecular markers. |
| Monetary Incentive Delay Task (included in the fMRI paradigm) - hits | Through study completion, an average of 1 year | Accuracy, measured through the number of hits to assess the hypothetical differences in participant's level of achievement between the pretest, posttest and follow-up assessments. |
Contacts
Primary ContactSónia Sousa, PhD
Backup ContactAdriana Sampaio, PhD
Outcome results
None listed