健康与遗传心理学研究室知识库

儿童青少年时期是大脑和身心发育的关键时期。部分研究已证实，体育活动有利于大脑结构和功能的发展，提高记忆表现，促进学业成绩。目前，该领域研究多为探察体育活动与大脑发育的直接关联研究，体质作为个体差异的重要因素，在现有研究中并未受到应有重视。近年来，随着拥有较大样本的脑成像队列研究的开展，为该领域的探索提供了新的方向，有助于揭示体育活动、体质与大脑发育的实质性关系，阐明体质在体育活动与大脑发育间所扮演的重要角色。

研究一旨在探讨儿童青少年体育活动与大脑结构和功能的关系。被试来自儿童青少年的脑影像队列研究项目“彩巢计划——成长在中国”，包括222名来自重庆和北京的6-18岁儿童青少年。该研究采用多元线性回归模型，在控制年龄、身体质量指数（BMI）、性别和相应全脑结构或功能指标的基础上，基于功能网络分区对体育活动与儿童青少年大脑形态学参数（平均皮层厚度、表面积、灰质体积）以及静息态脑功能活动信号之间的相关关系进行了分析。结果发现：1）体育活动量与大脑中央后回（b = 11.03，β = 0.70, F = 18.41, p = 2.69×10-5 < 0.001, 未校正）和中央后沟（b = 9.74, β = 0.40, F = 12.72, p = 4.45×10-4 < 0.001, 未校正）的灰质体积正相关；2）体育活动量与颞上回侧部和颞极、脑岛背侧和腹侧环状沟、短岛回的静息态大脑平均活动水平呈正相关关系（FDR校正：p < 0.05）。

研究二旨在分析体质水平在体育活动与大脑发育间的调节作用。该研究使用15米折返跑、最大握力和立定跳远测试，分别测量了儿童青少年的有氧耐力、上肢力量和下肢力量，用于计算个体体质水平。研究共纳入“彩巢计划——成长在中国”儿童青少年104人，采用多元线性回归模型对体质与大脑结构和功能的相关关系进行了分析，并在此基础上使用分层回归和混合相加模型（GAM）探察了体质水平的调节作用，结果发现：1）有氧耐力与左侧扣带回和扣带沟前中部的皮层表面积呈显著正相关关系（b = 5.131, β = 3.615, F = 11.589; p = 9.7×10-4 < 0.001, 未校正）；上肢力量与右侧眶内沟皮层表面积显著正相关（b = 2.051, β = 0.180, F =13.871; p = 3.3×10-4 < 0.001, 未校正），而与双侧海马体积呈显著负相关（左侧：b = -9.033, β = -0.743, F = 12.752，p = 5.5×10-4 < 0.001；右侧：b = -10.221, β = -0.800, F = 12.721; p = 5.6×10-4 < 0.001，未校正）；2）调节作用分析发现，有氧耐力在体育活动与大脑右侧距状沟灰质体积之间具有显著的调节作用。当有氧耐力成绩大于20时，随着体育活动量的增加，儿童青少年右侧距状沟灰质体积呈现增加的趋势；而对于有氧耐力成绩小于20的儿童青少年则呈现出相反的趋势。该研究结果提示，部分体质参数能显著调节体育活动和大脑结构之间的关系。

以上研究结果表明，体育活动与儿童青少年多个大脑局部脑区（中央后回、中央后沟和镜像神经元相关脑区）的结构和功能发育密切相关，并且体质在体育活动与大脑可塑性之间起着重要的调节作用。该研究一方面揭示了运动行为与大脑之间的密切关系，这为体育活动促进儿童青少年的大脑发育提供了有力的科学证据；另一方面对儿童青少年身体锻炼的个性化指导及体育课程的设置具有重要的启发意义。

Childhood and adolescence are critical periods for brain, physical and mental development. Studies have confirmed that physical activity (PA) plays an important role in the development of brain structure and function, and it is beneficial to memory and academic performance. At present, research in this field is mostly to investigate the relationship between PA and brain directly. As an important factor for individual variation, fitness has not received enough attention in existing research. Recent years, with the development of brain imaging cohort research which has a larger sample size, it provides a new direction for the exploration in this field. And the relationship between PA, fitness and brain as well as the role of fitness accessed to be explored and clarified. 
The purpose of study 1 is to explore the relationship between PA and brain structure/function in children and adolescents. Subjects were 222 children and adolescents aged 6-18 years (mean age: 10.10 years) from the Chinese Color Net Project, a brain imaging cohort project. Based on brain templates and multiple linear regression model, this study explored the relationship between PA and the average cortical thickness, surface area, gray matter volume and average resting BOLD signal of children and adolescents on the controlling of age, body mass index (BMI), gender and corresponding whole brain structural/functional values. It was found that 1) the amount of PA is positively correlated with the volume of gray matter in the postcentral gyrus (b = 11.03，β = 0.70, F = 18.41, p = 2.69×10-5 < 0.001, uncorrected) and postcentral sulcus (b = 9.74, β = 0.40, F = 12.72, p = 4.45×10-4 < 0.001, uncorrected); 2) PA is related to the resting BOLD signal of short insulla, lateral aspect of the superior temporal gyrus, planum polare of the superior temporal gyrus, inferior segment of the circular sulcus of the insula and the superior segment of the circular sulcus of insula (FDR corrected: p < 0.05).
The second study firstly focused on the effect of children and adolescents' fitness on their brain structure and function then explored the moderator role of fitness in the relationship between PA and brain structure or function. In this study, 15-meter shuttle run, maximum grip strength and standing long jump test were used to measure the aerobic endurance, upper limb strength and lower limb strength of children and adolescents. A total of 104 children and adolescents (mean age: 9.33 years old) were included in this study. The multiple linear regression model was used to analyze the relationship between fitness and brain structure/function, and the moderator effect of firness was analyzed by the step-based regression. The results found that 1) aerobic endurance was positively correlated with the cortical surface area of the surface area of the left anterior-middle cingulate sulcus (b = 5.131, β = 3.615, F = 11.589; p = 9.7×10-4 < 0.001, uncorrected); 2) The grip strength body mass index (GBMI) which reflects the upper limb strength was positively correlated with the surface area of the right orbital sulcus (b = 2.051, β = 0.180, F = 13.871; p = 3.3×10-4 < 0.001), uncorrected, and negatively correlated with the volume of the bilateral hippocampus (left: b = -9.033, β = -0.743, F = 12.752 p = 5.5×10-4 < 0.001; right: b = -10.221, β = -0.800, F = 12.721; p = 5.6×10-4 < 0.001 uncorrected); 3) Fitness aerobic endurance played a moderator role in PA and gray volume of right calcarine. When the aerobic endurance performance was greater than 20, with the increase in physical activity, the gray volume of the right calcarine of children and adolescents showed an increasing trend; while the aerobic endurance performance less than 20 showed the opposite trend.
The above studies showed that the structure of postcentral gyrus and postcentral sulcus and the resting state BOLD signal of several regions in mirror neuron system are related to PA in children and adolescents. And fitness plays a moderator role in regulating the relationship between PA and brain plasticity. On the one hand, this study provides strong scientific evidence for PA to promote the brain development of children and adolescents. On the other hand, it also has an important enlightening significance in physical exercise guidance, physical education and physical education curriculum to promote the physical and mental health of children and adolescents under the premise of considering individual’s fitness.