Effect of Acute Physical Exercise on Memory

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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An increasing amount of studies show the beneficial effect of regular exercise on cognitive and brain functions and especially in the memory domain. Yet little is known of what happens within an acute bout of exercise and whether it would also yield cognitive effects. The literature clearly shows that molecules such as brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and endocannabinoids (mainly anandamide, AEA) are heavily involved in neural plasticity mechanisms and increase when we exercise hinting at possible mechanisms underlying memory improvement after exercise. This protocol assesses the effects of acute exercise on associative and motor sequence memory, their underlying neural activations (measured using fMRI) and blood biomarkers (BDNF and AEA). A related aim is to assess the effect of exercise intensity, therefore three exercising conditions (rest, moderate intensity and high intensity) were included. Finally, a 3-month delayed retest visit is also realized to assess effects of acute exercise on long-term memory consolidation.

Conditions
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Acute Physical Exercise

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: moderate intensity physical exercise
* Other: high intensity physical exercise
* Other: rest


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Male Right-handed, Exercising regularly (at least twice per week). VO2max comprised between 40ml/kg/min and 65ml/kg/min. Exclusion Criteria: - Psychiatric and neurological history

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years
Maximum Age: 38 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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Male

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Other
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Crossover Assignment
Interventional Model Description: This is a within-subject study, all participants perform all conditions in cross-over randomized order.
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Rest<br>Participants rest quietly for 30 minutes, sitting on a chair. They may read magazines not involving motion-related elements | Other: rest<br> <br> |
| Experimental: Moderate intensity exercise<br>Participants cycle on a cycle ergometer during 30 minutes at 65% of their maximal cardiac frequency | Other: moderate intensity physical exercise<br> <br> |
| Experimental: High intensity exercise<br>Participants cycle on a cycle ergometer during 15 minutes at 75% of their maximal cardiac frequency. This session also includes 3 minutes of warm-up and three minutes of cool down at 50% of their maximal cardiac frequency | Other: high intensity physical exercise<br> <br> |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| cognitive measures - performance | we measure performance during cognitive tasks. Performance is measured as percentage of correct trials, with higher percentages corresponding to better performance - measured in percentages. | Till the end of the study for each participant, i.e.3 months (long time retest) | 
| cognitive measures - reaction times | we measure reaction times during cognitive tasks. For reaction times, lower measures correspond to faster response times and therefore to better outcome - measured in milliseconds. | Till the end of the study for each participant, i.e.3 months (long time retest) | 
| BDNF levels | we measure BDNF levels before and after physical exercise and rest, measured in ng/mL of serum. | up to 1 hour | 
| endocannabinoid levels | we measure endocannabinoid levels before and after physical exercise and rest, measured in ng/mL of plasma. | up to 1 hour | 
| brain activations | we measure brain activations using fMRI during cognitive tasks | up to 1 hour | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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fMRI, BDNF, endocannabinoid, physical exercise