Physical activity induces brain and behavioral changes in adolescents with subthreshold mood syndromes: A randomized controlled trial study

Abstract

Background: Prior literature have supported that physical exercise intervention is effective in enhancing various behavioural domains including cognition in adolescents. The present study aimed to examine the neural and cognitiveemotional changes after physical exercise intervention in adolescents with subthreshold mood syndromes. Method: Thirty nine adolescents with subthreshold mood syndromes were recruited (Mage = 12.64 years; 16 males) to participate in this study. Twenty one participants were randomly assigned to intervention group (aerobic exercise running) while 18 were assigned to control group (group activities). Both groups underwent cognitive and emotional assessments, as well as the structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (sMRI) before and after the intervention or group activities. Results: The repeatedmeasures t-test results showed that the Group x Time interaction effect was significant in the right medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) gray matter volume (GMV) (p= 0.03), left rostral anterior cingulate GMV (p= 0.02) and right rostral anterior cingulate cortical thickness (p= 0.01). The correlational results showed that the change in cognitive and emotional aspects were moderately and significantly correlated with the change in left rostral anterior cingulate GMV/cortical thickness (rs= -0.57) and left and right mOFC GMV/cortical thickness (rs= -0.50 to -0.54) in the intervention group while these correlations were not significant in the control group. Conclusion: The present findings suggest that after physical exercise intervention, there are structural brain changes specifically in the mOFC and rostral anterior cingulate (cognitive-emotional related brain regions) and these structural brain changes are coupled with the behavioural changes in adolescents. In summary, these findings can help us better understand the neural mechanism of the cognitive- emotional improvements induced by physical activity in adolescents.