Trial reportBrain, behavior, and immunity2013
Neurobiological markers of exercise-related brain plasticity in older adults.
Trial report in Brain, behavior, and immunity, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 215 papers, 15 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
215 citing papers in PubMed, 15 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 410 citations in OpenAlex.
- Does a combined intervention of diet and exercise lead to a more positive impact on neurocognitive function? A systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- Aerobic exercise training effects on hippocampal volume in healthy older individuals: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.GeroScience · 2024Pooled it
- Intervention effect of exercise on working memory in patients with depression: a systematic review.PeerJ · 2024Pooled it
- Exergames improve cognitive function in older adults and their possible mechanisms: A systematic review.Journal of global health · 2023Pooled it
- Exercise improves depression through positive modulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). A review based on 100 manuscripts over 20 years.Frontiers in physiology · 2023Pooled it
- Effects of Sport-Based Exercise Interventions on Executive Function in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Effect of Exercise on the Cognitive Function of Older Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2022Pooled it
- Exercise as Medicine for Mental and Substance Use Disorders: A Meta-review of the Benefits for Neuropsychiatric and Cognitive Outcomes.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2020Pooled it
- The Effect of Endurance Training on Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and Inflammatory Markers in Healthy People and Parkinson's Disease. A Narrative Review.Frontiers in physiology · 2020Pooled it
- The Effect of Tai Chi Chuan on Negative Emotions in Non-Clinical Populations: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Pooled it
- Pooled it
- A systematic review of MRI studies examining the relationship between physical fitness and activity and the white matter of the ageing brain.NeuroImage · 2016Pooled it
- Exercise Improves Clinical Symptoms, Quality of Life, Global Functioning, and Depression in Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2016Pooled it
- The effects of poststroke aerobic exercise on neuroplasticity: a systematic review of animal and clinical studies.Translational stroke research · 2015Pooled it
- A meta-analytic review of the effects of exercise on brain-derived neurotrophic factor.Journal of psychiatric research · 2015Pooled it
- Ischemic preconditioning modulates iron metabolism, acute inflammatory and neurotrophic responses to anaerobic exercise in untrained individuals: a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- The MindMoves Trial: Cross-Sectional Analyses of Baseline Vascular Risk and Cognition in Older Women with Cardiovascular Disease.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2024Trial
- Memory support training and lifestyle modifications to promote healthy aging in persons at risk for Alzheimer's disease: a digital application supported intervention (Brain Boosters).BMC geriatrics · 2023Trial
- Time-efficient, high-resistance inspiratory muscle strength training increases cerebrovascular reactivity in midlife and older adults.American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology · 2023Trial
- Impact of Multidomain Lifestyle Intervention on Cerebral Cortical Thickness and Serum Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor: the SUPERBRAIN Exploratory Sub-study.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2022Trial
155 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
19 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The current study examined how a randomized one-year aerobic exercise program for healthy older adults would affect serum levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), insulin-like growth factor type 1 (IGF-1), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) - putative markers of exercise-induced benefits on brain function. The study also examined whether (a) change in the concentration of these growth factors was associated with alterations in functional connectivity following exercise, and (b) the extent to which pre-intervention growth factor levels were associated with training-related changes in functional connectivity. In 65 participants (mean age=66.4), we found that although there were no group-level changes in growth factors as a function of the intervention, increased temporal lobe connectivity between the bilateral parahippocampus and the bilateral middle temporal gyrus was associated with increased BDNF, IGF-1, and VEGF for an aerobic walking group but not for a non-aerobic control group, and greater pre-intervention VEGF was associated with greater training-related increases in this functional connection. Results are consistent with animal models of exercise and the brain, but are the first to show in humans that exercise-induced increases in temporal lobe functional connectivity are associated with changes in growth factors and may be augmented by greater baseline VEGF.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.