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. 2015 Feb 26:7:661-6.
doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2015.02.017. eCollection 2015.

Cardiorespiratory fitness and its association with thalamic, hippocampal, and basal ganglia volumes in multiple sclerosis

Robert W Motl  1 , Lara A Pilutti  1 , Elizabeth A Hubbard  1 , Nathan C Wetter  2 , Jacob J Sosnoff  1 , Bradley P Sutton  2
Affiliations

Cardiorespiratory fitness and its association with thalamic, hippocampal, and basal ganglia volumes in multiple sclerosis

Robert W Motl et al. Neuroimage Clin. .

Abstract

Background: There is little known about cardiorespiratory fitness and its association with volumes of the thalamus, hippocampus, and basal ganglia in multiple sclerosis (MS). Such inquiry is important for identifying a possible behavioral approach (e.g., aerobic exercise training) that might change volumes of deep gray matter (DGM) structures associated with cognitive and motor functions in MS.

Purpose: This study examined the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and volumes of the thalamus, hippocampus, and basal ganglia in MS.

Method: We enrolled 35 persons with MS who underwent a maximal exercise test for measuring cardiorespiratory fitness as peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak) and brain MRI. Volumes of the thalamus, hippocampus, caudate, putamen, and pallidum were calculated from 3D T1-weighted structural brain images. We examined associations using partial (pr) correlations controlling for demographic and clinical variables.

Results: VO2peak was significantly associated with composite scaled volumes of the caudate(pr = .47, p < .01), putamen (pr = .44, p < .05), pallidum (pr = .40, p < .05), and hippocampus (pr = .42, p < .05), but not thalamus (pr = .31, p = .09), when controlling for sex, age, disability, and duration of MS.

Conclusion: Our results provide novel evidence that cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with volumes of DGM structures that are involved in motor and cognitive functions in MS.

Keywords: Brain; Exercise; MRI; Multiple sclerosis; Physical activity.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Scatter plots along with line of best fit and 95% confidence interval for the association between cardiorespiratory fitness (ml/kg/min) and scaled composite volumes (mm3) of the thalamus, hippocampus, caudate, pallidum, and putamen.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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