Imaging the effect of exercise on the developing brain

Research presented at SfN Global Connectome (11th–13th January 2021, online) has used whole-brain MRI to shed light on the effect of exercise on the developing brain.  While physical exercise is promoted by the World Health Organization (Geneva, Switzerland) as important for development, the impact of exercise on the developing brain has heretofore remained a mystery.  New multi-institutional research by Piergiorgio Salvan (Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Oxford, UK) and colleagues sought to clarify the impact of exercise on the developing brain using multimodal neuroimaging markers.  The team utilized whole-brain MRI to characterize the structure, microstructure, function, myelin content and blood perfusion of 50 12-year-old UK-based schoolchildren. They also analyzed objective fitness levels, BMI, heart...