Cardiopulmonary fitness correlates with regional cerebral grey matter perfusion and density in men with coronary artery disease

Purpose: Physical activity is associated with positive effects on the brain but there is a paucity of clinical neuroimaging data in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), a cardiovascular condition associated with grey matter loss. The purpose of this study was to determine which brain regions are impacted by cardiopulmonary fitness and with the change in fitness after 6 months of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation. Methods: CAD patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging at baseline, and peak volume of oxygen uptake during exercise testing (VO2Peak) was measured at baseline and after 6 months of training. T1-weighted structural images were used to perform grey matter (GM) voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (pcASL) was used to produce cerebral blood flow (CBF) images. VBM and CBF data were tested voxel-wise using VO2Peak and age as explanatory variables. Results: In 30 men with CAD (mean age 65±7 years), VBM and CBF identified 7 and 5 respective regions positively associated with baseline VO2Peak. These included the pre- and post-central, paracingulate, caudate, hippocampal regions and converging findings in the putamen. VO2Peak increased by 20% at follow-up in 29 patients (t = 9.6, df = 28, p