Impact of aerobic exercise training on cognitive functions and affect associated to the COMT polymorphism in young adults

COMT gene polymorphisms, cognitive performance, and physical fitness in older adults

“…These two studies together might explain why we found a compensatory effect of fitness for less preferable genotype on performance accuracy. Stroth et al (2010) investigating the effect of 17 weeks of running training on cognitive functions in a sample of 75 healthy younger adults also revealed that COMT val/val allele carriers improved cognitive performance (Stroop Task, Dots-Mixed Task) after the intervention to a greater extent as compared to met allele carriers (val/met and met/met pooled to any met). They concluded that DA might serve as a mediator in the relationship between exercise and cognition in a way that exercise might entail optimization of central DA availability.…”

“…Although sex was correlated with Flanker speed performance, the correlation between fitness and Flanker speed remained when controlled for sex. Interestingly, Stroth et al (2010) working with young adults and different executive tasks found effects of genotype on performance changes only for reaction speed but not for performance accuracy. Whether this result depends on the selected task (Stroop Task, Dots-Mixed Task) or on the age of the participants is difficult to judge.…”

“…This might explain why we had a comparably high amount of COMT met/met allele carriers in our study (cf. e.g., Nagel et al, 2008;Stroth et al, 2010). Participants were, however, similar in age, sex, education, IQ, MMSE, and subjective health.…”

“…Stroth et al (2010) revealed in a sample of healthy adults (17e47 years of age) that COMT val homozygotes improved cognitive performance (Stroop Task, Dots-Mixed task) after 17 weeks of running training to a greater extent as compared to met allele carriers. Similarly, investigating the effect of a 6-month multicomponent training (cognitive, aerobic and activities of daily living) in healthy older adults, Pieramico, Esposito, Sensi, Cilli, and Mantini (2012) revealed the greatest exercise benefits in COMT val/val and val/met allele carriers (and DRD3 ser9gly carriers; for other lifestyle factors and the relation to cognitive performance and COMT cf.…”

The COMT val158met polymorphism in ultra-endurance athletes

“…In the absence of physical activity, Met 158 allele carriers exhibit superior prefrontal functioning and superior performance in executive functioning tasks due to the proposed increased DA signaling [4,44,49]. However, in response to physical activity Val 158 allele carriers become superior at prefrontal functioning with greater improvements in cognitive and affective tasks [53]. This is proposed to occur due to an increased release of DA in response to physical activity.…”