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Title: Sedentary behavior associated with reduced medial temporal lobe thickness in middle-aged and older adults

Abstract

Atrophy of the medial temporal lobe (MTL) occurs with aging, resulting in impaired episodic memory. Aerobic fitness is positively correlated with total hippocampal volume, a heavily studied memory-critical region within the MTL. However, research on associations between sedentary behavior and MTL subregion integrity is limited. Here we explore associations between thickness of the MTL and its subregions (namely CA1, CA23DG, fusiform gyrus, subiculum, parahippocampal, perirhinal and entorhinal cortex,), physical activity, and sedentary behavior. We assessed 35 non-demented middle-aged and older adults (25 women, 10 men; 45–75 years) using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire for older adults, which quantifies physical activity levels in MET-equivalent units and asks about the average number of hours spent sitting per day. All participants had high resolution MRI scans performed on a Siemens Allegra 3T MRI scanner, which allows for detailed investigation of the MTL. Controlling for age, total MTL thickness correlated inversely with hours of sitting/day (r = -0.37, p = 0.03). In MTL subregion analysis, parahippocampal (r = -0.45, p = 0.007), entorhinal (r = -0.33, p = 0.05) cortical and subiculum (r = -0.36, p = .04) thicknesses correlated inversely with hours of sitting/day. No significant correlations were observed between physical activity levelsmore » and MTL thickness. Though preliminary, our results suggest that more sedentary non-demented individuals have less MTL thickness. Future studies should include longitudinal analyses and explore mechanisms, as well as the efficacy of decreasing sedentary behaviors to reverse this association.« less

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [1]
  1. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Semel Inst. for Neuroscience and Human Behavior
  2. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Center for Cognitive Neurosciences
  3. Univ. of Adelaide, SA (Australia). Discipline of Psychiatry
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE; National Inst. of Health (NIH) (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
1505148
Grant/Contract Number:  
FC03-87ER60615; MH077650; AT003480; P01-AG024831; AG13308; P50 AG 16570; MH/AG58156; AG10123; M01-RR00865; 5P30AG028748; UL1TR000124
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
PLoS ONE
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 13; Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 1932-6203
Publisher:
Public Library of Science
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES; physical activity; elderly; Alzheimer's disease; behavior; central nervous system; magnetic resonance imaging; entorhinal cortex; temporal lobe

Citation Formats

Siddarth, Prabha, Burggren, Alison C., Eyre, Harris A., Small, Gary W., and Merrill, David A. Sedentary behavior associated with reduced medial temporal lobe thickness in middle-aged and older adults. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0195549.
Siddarth, Prabha, Burggren, Alison C., Eyre, Harris A., Small, Gary W., & Merrill, David A. Sedentary behavior associated with reduced medial temporal lobe thickness in middle-aged and older adults. United States. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0195549
Siddarth, Prabha, Burggren, Alison C., Eyre, Harris A., Small, Gary W., and Merrill, David A. Thu . "Sedentary behavior associated with reduced medial temporal lobe thickness in middle-aged and older adults". United States. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0195549. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1505148.
@article{osti_1505148,
title = {Sedentary behavior associated with reduced medial temporal lobe thickness in middle-aged and older adults},
author = {Siddarth, Prabha and Burggren, Alison C. and Eyre, Harris A. and Small, Gary W. and Merrill, David A.},
abstractNote = {Atrophy of the medial temporal lobe (MTL) occurs with aging, resulting in impaired episodic memory. Aerobic fitness is positively correlated with total hippocampal volume, a heavily studied memory-critical region within the MTL. However, research on associations between sedentary behavior and MTL subregion integrity is limited. Here we explore associations between thickness of the MTL and its subregions (namely CA1, CA23DG, fusiform gyrus, subiculum, parahippocampal, perirhinal and entorhinal cortex,), physical activity, and sedentary behavior. We assessed 35 non-demented middle-aged and older adults (25 women, 10 men; 45–75 years) using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire for older adults, which quantifies physical activity levels in MET-equivalent units and asks about the average number of hours spent sitting per day. All participants had high resolution MRI scans performed on a Siemens Allegra 3T MRI scanner, which allows for detailed investigation of the MTL. Controlling for age, total MTL thickness correlated inversely with hours of sitting/day (r = -0.37, p = 0.03). In MTL subregion analysis, parahippocampal (r = -0.45, p = 0.007), entorhinal (r = -0.33, p = 0.05) cortical and subiculum (r = -0.36, p = .04) thicknesses correlated inversely with hours of sitting/day. No significant correlations were observed between physical activity levels and MTL thickness. Though preliminary, our results suggest that more sedentary non-demented individuals have less MTL thickness. Future studies should include longitudinal analyses and explore mechanisms, as well as the efficacy of decreasing sedentary behaviors to reverse this association.},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0195549},
journal = {PLoS ONE},
number = 4,
volume = 13,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Apr 12 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Thu Apr 12 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}

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Cited by: 37 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: Methods for producing flat maps. Oblique coronal images are acquired to cover the long axis of the hippocampus as shown in image A. This image is cropped over the area of interest (red square) and shown in greater detail in image B. The gray matter ribbon (shown inmore » bright blue) is segmented out from the surrounding MTL area. C. Boundaries between subregions are demarcated on each slice and projected to the corresponding location in flat-map space (shown in E). Boundaries between these subregions are shown in C and projected to flat-map (or 2D) space as shown in Fig E. D. Thickness in gray matter space is calculated in-plane space by taking the maximum distance value of the corresponding 3D voxels across all layers and multiplying by two to arrive at a thickness value for each voxel. E. The subregions are labeled as follows: cornu ammonis (CA) fields 1, 2, 3 and the dentate gyrus (DG) subiculum (Sub), entorhinal cortex (ERC), perirhinal cortex (PRC), parahippocampal cortex (PHC) and fusiform cortex (Fus). Boundary colors in C correspond to the same color scale in E and are labeled according to the Boundary Demarcation color bar.« less

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