Effect of Acute Physical Exercise on Memory (SPEMO)

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.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Acute Physical Exercise
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: rest; Other: moderate intensity physical exercise; Other: high intensity physical exercise

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 25
• Phase: Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 38 years (ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: Male

Description

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

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: OTHER
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: CROSSOVER
• Masking: NONE

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Rest; Participants rest quietly for 30 minutes, sitting on a chair. They may read magazines not involving motion-related elements	Other: rest
EXPERIMENTAL: Moderate intensity exercise; Participants cycle on a cycle ergometer during 30 minutes at 65% of their maximal cardiac frequency	Other: moderate intensity physical exercise
EXPERIMENTAL: High intensity exercise; 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

What is the study measuring?

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

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Geneva, Switzerland
• Collaborators: University Hospital, Geneva

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Marin Bosch B, Bringard A, Logrieco MG, Lauer E, Imobersteg N, Thomas A, Ferretti G, Schwartz S, Igloi K. Effect of acute physical exercise on motor sequence memory. Sci Rep. 2020 Sep 18;10(1):15322. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-72108-1.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): October 9, 2015
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): July 27, 2016
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): July 27, 2016

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 11, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 17, 2020
• First Posted (ACTUAL): December 23, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): December 23, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 17, 2020
• Last Verified: December 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: fMRI; BDNF; physical exercise; endocannabinoid
• Other Study ID Numbers: PB_2017-00360

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No