Cerebellar Grey Matter Volume Linked With Physical Fitness

Grey matter is a crucial kind of tissue in the brain and spinal cord that has a significant impact on movement, emotions, memory, and mental processes.

Uncertainties persist about the relationships between physical fitness and cerebellar volume in teenagers, despite the importance of the growing cerebellum for cognition and learning.

The results of the FitBrain research, which comprised 40 individuals from the 8-year follow-up exams of the Physical Activity and Nutrition in Children (PANIC) project, were published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports.

The findings carried out at the University of Jyväskylä and the University of Eastern Finland looked at whether there were gender differences in the relationships between physical fitness and the grey matter volume of cerebellar lobules linked to cognition in teenagers.

Adolescents with excellent neuromuscular fitness from childhood exhibited more significant volumes of Crus I grey matter. On the other hand, the total cerebellar grey matter volume was less in teenagers who were more fit based on cardiorespiratory.

Additionally, boys with higher neuromuscular fitness throughout childhood have lower Crus II grey matter volumes.

Our study highlights the importance of physical activity through childhood and adolescence, leading to better physical fitness, as it might be relevant to cerebellar volumes related to cognition and learning. However, the associations we observed are in part contradictory.

- Petri Jalanko, co-author

He says the research clarifies the connections between cerebellar function and physical fitness.

The participants' mean age was 17.9 years, with 22 women and 18 men.

The maximal ramp test on a cycle ergometer measured cardiorespiratory fitness; the standing long jump, Box and Block Test, and shuttle-run test z-scores were used to measure muscular strength.

The 10 x 5 m shuttle-run test measured speed and agility, and the coordination test measured neuromuscular fitness. Lastly, the standing long jump was used to measure muscular strength.

Magnetic resonance imaging was used to evaluate the cerebellar volumes.

To further investigate the relationships and causation between physical fitness and cerebellar size in teenagers, large-scale and gender-specific randomized controlled studies are required to use innovative brain imaging and direct cardiorespiratory fitness measures.