Aerobic Fitness and Neurocognitive Function Scores in Young Faroese Adults and Potential Modification by Prenatal Methylmercury Exposure

• Youssef Oulhote ^[3] ; Frodi Debes ^[4] ; Sonja Vestergaard ^[1] ; Pal Weihe ^[4] ; Philippe Grandjean ^[2]
  1. [1] University of Southern Denmark

     University of Southern Denmark

     Dinamarca

     
  2. [2] 1 Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; 3 Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
  3. [3] 1 Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
  4. [4] 2 Department of Occupational Medicine and Public Health, Faroese Hospital System, Torshavn, Faroe Islands

  Mostrar afiliaciones +
• Localización: Environmental health perspectives, ISSN 0091-6765, Vol. 125, Nº. 4, 2017, págs. 677-683
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.1289/EHP274
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen

  • Exposure to methylmercury was shown to decrease neural stem cell populations, whereas aerobic fitness has beneficial effects on the adult brain that relies on improved neurogenesis in the hippocampus.

    We examined the association between aerobic fitness and neurocognitive outcomes at young adult age, along with the potential moderating effect of prenatal exposure to methylmercury.

    At age 22 years, 262 members of a Faroese birth cohort, established in 1986–1987, underwent a graded exercise test of aerobic fitness to measure maximal oxygen uptake (VO2Max). Their prenatal methylmercury exposure had been assessed from the mercury concentration in cord blood. We estimated cross-sectional associations between VO2Max and multiple measures of neurocognitive function. In addition, we compared groups with low and high prenatal methylmercury exposure.

    A 1 standard deviation (SD) increase in VO2Max was associated with better scores on short-term memory and cognitive processing speed by 0.21 SD (95% CI: –0.04, 0.46) and 0.28 SD (95% CI: 0.02, 0.54), respectively. In the group with lower prenatal methylmercury exposure, a 1 SD increase in VO2Max was associated with increased scores on cognitive processing speed by 0.45 SD (95% CI: 0.08, 0.81) and with a slightly lesser benefit in short-term memory. No such association was observed in the group with high prenatal methylmercury exposure.

    Higher aerobic capacity was associated with better performance in short-term memory and processing speed. However, prenatal methylmercury exposure seemed to attenuate these positive associations.

    Oulhote Y, Debes F, Vestergaard S, Weihe P, Grandjean P. 2017. Aerobic fitness and neurocognitive function scores in young Faroese adults and potential modification by prenatal methylmercury exposure. Environ Health Perspect 125:677–683; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/EHP274

• Referencias bibliográficas
  • Åberg, MAI, Pedersen, NL, Torén, K, Svartengren, M, Bäckstrand, B, Johnsson, T. (2009). Cardiovascular fitness is associated with cognition...
  • Aimone, JB, Li, Y, Lee, SW, Clemenson, GD, Deng, W, Gage, FH. (2014). Regulation and function of adult neurogenesis: from genes to cognition.....
  • Andersen, LB. (1995). A maximal cycle exercise protocol to predict maximal oxygen uptake.. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 5. 143-146
  • Chaddock-Heyman, L, Hillman, CH, Cohen, NJ, Kramer, AF. (2014). III. The importance of physical activity and aerobic fitness for cognitive...
  • Christian, KM, Song, H, Ming, GL. (2014). Functions and dysfunctions of adult hippocampal neurogenesis.. Annu Rev Neurosci. 37. 243-262
  • Clark, PJ, Brzezinska, WJ, Thomas, MW, Ryzhenko, NA, Toshkov, SA, Rhodes, JS. (2008). Intact neurogenesis is required for benefits of exercise...
  • Colcombe, SJ, Erickson, KI, Scalf, PE, Kim, JS, Prakash, R, McAuley, E. (2006). Aerobic exercise training increases brain volume in aging...
  • Colcombe, S, Kramer, AF. (2003). Fitness effects on the cognitive function of older adults: a meta-analytic study.. Psychol Sci. 14. 125-130
  • Crupi, R, Marino, A, Cuzzocrea, S. (2013). n-3 fatty acids: role in neurogenesis and neuroplasticity.. Curr Med Chem. 20. 2953-2963
  • Debes, F, Budtz-Jørgensen, E, Weihe, P, White, RF, Grandjean, P. (2006). Impact of prenatal methylmercury exposure on neurobehavioral function...
  • Debes, F, Weihe, P, Grandjean, P. (2016). Cognitive deficits at age 22 years associated with prenatal exposure to methylmercury.. Cortex....
  • (1987). Psychological Corp. San Antonio, TX.
  • Erickson, KI, Kramer, AF. (2009). Aerobic exercise effects on cognitive and neural plasticity in older adults.. Br J Sports Med. 43. 22-24
  • Erickson, KI, Voss, MW, Prakash, RS, Basak, C, Szabo, A, Chaddock, L. (2011). Exercise training increases size of hippocampus and improves...
  • Etnier, JL, Nowell, PM, Landers, DM, Sibley, BA. (2006). A meta-regression to examine the relationship between aerobic fitness and cognitive...
  • Falluel-Morel, A, Sokolowski, K, Sisti, HM, Zhou, X, Shors, TJ, Dicicco-Bloom, E. (2007). Developmental mercury exposure elicits acute hippocampal...
  • Hernán, MA, Hernández-Díaz, S, Robins, JM. (2004). A structural approach to selection bias.. Epidemiology. 15. 615-625
  • Grandjean, P, Budtz-Jørgensen, E. (2007). Total imprecision of exposure biomarkers: implications for calculating exposure limits.. Am J Ind...
  • Grandjean, P, Landrigan, PJ. (2014). Neurobehavioural effects of developmental toxicity.. Lancet Neurol. 13. 330-338
  • Grandjean, P, Weihe, P, Debes, F, Choi, AL, Budtz-Jørgensen, E. (2014). Neurotoxicity from prenatal and postnatal exposure to methylmercury.....
  • Grandjean, P, Weihe, P, Jørgensen, PJ, Clarkson, T, Cernichiari, E, Viderø, T. (1992). Impact of maternal seafood diet on fetal exposure to...
  • Greenland, S, Pearl, J, Robins, JM. (1999). Causal diagrams for epidemiologic research.. Epidemiology. 10. 37-48
  • Gundacker, C, Scheinast, M, Damjanovic, L, Fuchs, C, Rosner, M, Hengstschläger, M. (2012). Proliferation potential of human amniotic fluid...
  • Herting, MM, Nagel, BJ. (2012). Aerobic fitness relates to learning on a virtual Morris Water Task and hippocampal volume in adolescents.....
  • Hillman, CH, Castelli, DM, Buck, SM. (2005). Aerobic fitness and neurocognitive function in healthy preadolescent children.. Med Sci Sports...
  • Hindin, SB, Zelinski, EM. (2012). Extended practice and aerobic exercise interventions benefit untrained cognitive outcomes in older adults:...
  • Hötting, K, Röder, B. (2013). Beneficial effects of physical exercise on neuroplasticity and cognition.. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 37. 2243-2257
  • (1983). Lea & Febiger. Philadelphia, PA.
  • Karagas, MR, Choi, AL, Oken, E, Horvat, M, Schoeny, R, Kamai, E. (2012). Evidence on the human health effects of low-level methylmercury exposure.....
  • Klempin, F, Beis, D, Mosienko, V, Kempermann, G, Bader, M, Alenina, N. (2013). Serotonin is required for exercise-induced adult hippocampal...
  • Kramer, AF, Colcombe, S, Erickson, K, Belopolsky, A, McAuley, E, Cohen, NJ. (2002). Effects of aerobic fitness training on human cortical...
  • Oberski, D. (2014). lavaan.survey: an R package for complex survey analysis of structural equation models.. J Stat Softw. 57. 1-27
  • Oudar, P, Caillard, L, Fillion, G. (1989). Pharmacol Toxicol. 65. 245-248
  • Pereira, AC, Huddleston, DE, Brickman, AM, Sosunov, AA, Hen, R, McKhann, GM. (2007). An. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 104. 5638-5643
  • (2014). Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Health. Philadelphia, PA.
  • Rosseel, Y. (2012). lavaan: an R package for structural equation modeling.. J Stat Softw. 48. 1-36
  • (1987). John Wiley & Sons. New York.
  • Rugg, MD, Otten, LJ, Henson, RNA. (2002). The neural basis of episodic memory: evidence from functional neuroimaging.. Philos Trans R Soc...
  • (2012). The Cattell-Horn-Carroll model of intelligence. In:. Guilford Press. New York.
  • Shephard, RJ. (1984). Tests of maximum oxygen intake. A critical review.. Sports Med. 1. 99-124
  • Smith, PJ, Blumenthal, JA, Hoffman, BM, Cooper, H, Strauman, TA, Welsh-Bohmer, K. (2010). Aerobic exercise and neurocognitive performance:...
  • Smith, PJ, Potter, GG, McLaren, ME, Blumenthal, JA. (2013). Impact of aerobic exercise on neurobehavioral outcomes.. Ment Health Phys Act....
  • Sokolowski, K, Obiorah, M, Robinson, K, McCandlish, E, Buckley, B, DiCicco-Bloom, E. (2013). Neural stem cell apoptosis after low-methylmercury...
  • Tamm, C, Duckworth, J, Hermanson, O, Ceccatelli, S. (2006). High susceptibility of neural stem cells to methylmercury toxicity: effects on...
  • van Buuren, S, Groothuis-Oudshoorn, K. (2011). mice: multivariate imputation by chained equations in R.. J Stat Softw. 45. 1-67
  • Van der Wal, WM, Geskus, RB. (2011). ipw: an R package for inverse probability weighting.. J Stat Softw. 43. 1-23
  • van Praag, H. (2008). Neurogenesis and exercise: past and future directions.. Neuromolecular Med. 10. 128-140
  • van Praag, H, Kempermann, G, Gage, FH. (1999). Running increases cell proliferation and neurogenesis in the adult mouse dentate gyrus.. Nat...
  • (1974). Psychological Corp. New York.
  • (1981). Psychological Corp. San Antonio, TX.
  • (1997). Psychological Corp. San Antonio, TX.
  • White, IR, Royston, P, Wood, AM. (2011). Multiple imputation using chained equations: issues and guidance for practice.. Stat Med. 30. 377-399
  • (2001). Riverside Publishing. Itasca, IL.