Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Multimodal Imaging Brain Markers In Early Adolescence Are Linked With A Physically Active Lifestyle, Piergiorgio Salvan, Thomas Wassenaar, Catherine Wheatley, Nicholas Beale, Michiel Cottaar, Daniel Papp, Matteo Bastiani, Sean P. Fitzgibbon, Euguene Duff, Anderson M. Winkler

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

The World Health Organization promotes physical exercise and a healthy lifestyle as means to improve youth development. However, relationships between physical lifestyle and human brain development are not fully understood. Here, we asked whether a human brain-physical latent mode of covariation underpins the relationship between physical activity, fitness, and physical health measures with multimodal neuroimaging markers. In 50 12-year old school pupils (26 females), we acquired multimodal whole-brain MRI, characterizing brain structure, microstructure, function, myelin content, and blood perfusion. We also acquired physical variables measuring objective fitness levels, 7 d physical activity, body mass index, heart rate, and blood pressure. …