Brain connectivity is altered by extreme physical exercise during non-REM sleep and wakefulness: indications from EEG and fMRI studies.

Brain connectivity is altered by extreme physical exercise during non-REM sleep and wakefulness: indications from EEG and fMRI studies. Arch Ital Biol. 2016 Dec 01;154(4):103-117 Authors: Menicucci D, Gentili C, Piarulli A, Laurino M, Pellegrini S, Mastorci F, Bedini R, Montanaro D, Sebastiani L, Gemignani A Abstract Brain connectivity is associated to behavioral states (e.g. wake, sleep) and modified by physical activity although, to date, it is not clear which components (e.g. hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis hormones, cytokines) associated to the exercise are involved. In this pilot study, we used extreme exercise (UltraTriathlon) as a model to investigate physical-activity-related changes of brain connectivity. We studied post-race brain synchronization during wakefulness and sleep as well as possible correlations between exercise-related cytokines/hormones and synchronization features. For wakefulness, global synchronization was evaluated by estimating from fMRI data (12 athletes) the brain global connectivity (GC). GC increased in several brain regions, mainly related to sensory-motor activity, emotional modulation and response to stress that may foster rapid exchange of information across regions, and reflect post-race internally-focused mental activity or disengagement from previous motor programs. No significant correlations between cytokines/hormones and GC were found. For sleep (8 athletes), synchronization was evaluate...
Source: Archives Italiennes de Biologie - Category: Neuroscience Tags: Arch Ital Biol Source Type: research