Impact of a multidomain lifestyle intervention on regional spontaneous brain activity

Abstract

In the SoUth Korean study to PrEvent cognitive impaiRment and protect BRAIN health through lifestyle intervention in at-risk elderly people (SUPERBRAIN), we evaluated the impact of multidomain lifestyle intervention on regional homogeneity (ReHo) in resting-state functional brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data. Of 152 participants aged 60–79 years without dementia assigned to either facility-based multidomain intervention (FMI), home-based MI, or controls, we analyzed 56 scanned MRIs at baseline and 24 weeks. ReHo values from regions with significant longitudinal changes were compared between the intervention and control groups and their correlations with the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) or serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were evaluated. ReHo values in the left medial orbitofrontal gyrus and right superior parietal lobule were increased [p = 0.021, correlated positively with serum BDNF changes (r = 0.504, p = 0.047)] and decreased [p = 0.021, correlated negatively with changes in the total (r = −0.509, p = 0.044) and attention (r = −0.562, p = 0.023). RBANS], respectively, in the participants assigned to the FMI group than those of the controls. Our results suggest that facility-based group preventive strategies may have cognitive benefits through neuroplastic changes in functional processing circuits in the brain areas which play a crucial role in the adaptive learning and internally directed cognition.

Impact of a multidomain lifestyle intervention on white matter integrity: the SUPERBRAIN exploratory sub-study

“…Previous imaging analyses from the SUPERBRAIN studies ( Moon et al, 2022a , b ) have shown that group preventive strategies implemented at the facility can be beneficial in promoting structural or functional neuroplastic changes in brain areas that are involved in learning. These areas included the bilateral frontotemporal lobes, cingulate gyri, insula, and the left medial orbitofrontal gyrus.…”

“…4 Finally, we performed feature extraction by aligning JHU-ICBM-labels atlas to the native FA image using a SyN and calculating the average FA, MD, AD, and RD values for each region of interest (ROI) ( Mori et al, 2005 ). Based on the results of previous imaging analyses from the SUPERBRAIN studies ( Moon et al, 2022a , b ), specific ROIs were selected where changes in white matter integrity were anticipated. These ROIs consisted of the cingulum cingulate gyrus (CgC), cingulum hippocampus (CgH), superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), as well as the uncinate fasciculus (UF) on both hemispheres ( Figure 2 ).…”

“…However, the impact of multidomain lifestyle interventions on structural or functional brain imaging remains controversial. The findings from the SUPERBRAIN study indicate that a 24-week FMI can increase both global and regional cortical thickness ( Moon et al, 2022a ) and alter regional homogeneity in the resting-state functional brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) ( Moon et al, 2022b ). However, an exploratory MRI sub-study of the FINGER trial did not reveal any significant differences in regional brain volumes, cortical thickness, or white matter lesion volume between the intervention and control groups after 2 years in at-risk elderly individuals without substantial impairment ( Stephen et al, 2019 ).…”

Social participation and risk of developing dementia

“…The Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) score improved significantly at 24 weeks of follow-up of participants in the intervention group who received the intervention in a clinical setting (5.46 ± 7.50, P = 0.004) or at home (5.50 ± 8.14, P = 0.004) compared to the control group (−0.74 ± 11.51) 127 . This improvement was associated with changes in learning and cognitive neural networks 128 .…”

Effectiveness of Caregiver-Provided Individual Cognitive Interventions in Older Adults with Dementia

“…Thus, non-pharmacological interventions, namely cognitive interventions (CIs), have gained particular relevance given the increased number of people living with dementia [ 10–13 ]. The benefits of CIs may include neuroplastic changes [ 14–17 ] and an increase in cognitive reserve [ 18, 19 ], which facilitate coping with brain diseases.…”