Changes in neurovascular coupling during cycling exercise measured by multi-distance fNIRS: a comparison between endurance athletes and physically active controls

Abstract

It is well known that endurance exercise modulates the cardiovascular, pulmonary, and musculoskeletal system. However, knowledge about its effects on brain function and structure is rather sparse. Hence, the present study aimed to investigate exercise-dependent adaptations in neurovascular coupling to different intensity levels in motor-related brain regions. Moreover, expertise effects between trained endurance athletes (EA) and active control participants (ACP) during a cycling test were investigated using multi-distance functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Initially, participants performed an incremental cycling test (ICT) to assess peak values of power output (PPO) and cardiorespiratory parameters such as oxygen consumption volume (VO2max) and heart rate (HRmax). In a second session, participants cycled individual intensity levels of 20, 40, and 60% of PPO while measuring cardiorespiratory responses and neurovascular coupling. Our results revealed exercise-induced decreases of deoxygenated hemoglobin (HHb), indicating an increased activation in motor-related brain areas such as primary motor cortex (M1) and premotor cortex (PMC). However, we could not find any differential effects in brain activation between EA and ACP. Future studies should extend this approach using whole-brain configurations and systemic physiological augmented fNIRS measurements, which seems to be of pivotal interest in studies aiming to assess neural activation in a sports-related context.

Characterizing hemodynamic response alterations during basketball dribbling

“…Extra-cerebral contaminations measured by short-distance channels were regressed out of the fNIRS signal (short separation regression, SSR) using HOMER2 hrmDeconvHRF_DriftSS function as previously applied in recent studies [15,30]. In detail, using this function, SSR is performed with the nearest short separation channel, assuming that the signal measured by short-distance channels represents superficial layers and the signal measured by long-distance channels represents both brain tissue and superficial layers.…”

“…Apart from this evidence on simple motor tasks, knowledge on brain functioning during the execution of complex sport-specific movements and task-related functional adaptations is still limited [13][14][15][16][17]. It is by no means clear, whether previous knowledge from simple movements is transferable to complex/ whole-body movements.…”

Neurodiagnostics in Sports: Investigating the Athlete’s Brain to Augment Performance and Sport-Specific Skills

“…Hence, measuring brain activation during the execution of sports-related movements seems feasible. Many previous studies have successfully applied fNIRS to study functional brain adaptations during complex motor tasks such as juggling (Carius et al, 2016), balancing (Seidel et al, 2017), squatting , climbing (Carius et al, 2020), playing table tennis (Balardin et al, 2017), running (Suzuki et al, 2004) and cycling (Seidel et al, 2019). Additionally, the focus is increasingly shifting in the direction of investigating neural correlates of motor expertise comparing athletes and non-athletes using fNIRS (Seidel et al, 2017(Seidel et al, , 2019.…”

“…Many previous studies have successfully applied fNIRS to study functional brain adaptations during complex motor tasks such as juggling (Carius et al, 2016), balancing (Seidel et al, 2017), squatting , climbing (Carius et al, 2020), playing table tennis (Balardin et al, 2017), running (Suzuki et al, 2004) and cycling (Seidel et al, 2019). Additionally, the focus is increasingly shifting in the direction of investigating neural correlates of motor expertise comparing athletes and non-athletes using fNIRS (Seidel et al, 2017(Seidel et al, , 2019. In combination with novel approaches such as multichannel whole-brain fNIRS, multi-distance fNIRS Seidel et al, 2019) and systemic physiological augmented fNIRS (Herold et al, 2018), these studies provide an important basis for neurodiagnostics of motor expertise and talent (see Figure 1B).…”

“…Additionally, the focus is increasingly shifting in the direction of investigating neural correlates of motor expertise comparing athletes and non-athletes using fNIRS (Seidel et al, 2017(Seidel et al, , 2019. In combination with novel approaches such as multichannel whole-brain fNIRS, multi-distance fNIRS Seidel et al, 2019) and systemic physiological augmented fNIRS (Herold et al, 2018), these studies provide an important basis for neurodiagnostics of motor expertise and talent (see Figure 1B). Furthermore, a combination of non-invasive brain imaging techniques might help to overcome limitations in spatial and/or temporal resolution.…”