In 2009 (April 19th to June 21st) the TransEurope-FootRace 2009 (TEFR09) took place. The changes were reversible after 8 months.ĭespite substantial changes to brain composition during the catabolic stress of an ultra marathon, the observed differences seem to be reversible and adaptive. The reduction of the energy intensive default mode network as a means to conserve energy during catabolism is discussed. However, during the race GM volume decreased in brain regions normally associated with visuospatial and language tasks. If this missing difference is not due to small sample size, extreme physical training obviously does not chronically alter GM. ConclusionĬontrary to our hypothesis, we did not observe significant differences between TEFR09 athletes and controls at baseline. These included the bilateral posterior temporal and occipitoparietal cortices as well as the anterior cingulate and caudate nucleus. During the race however, VBM revealed GM volume decreases in regionally distributed brain regions. Resultsīaseline comparison of TEFR09 participants and controls revealed no significant differences regarding GM brain volume. A level of p < 0.05, family-wise corrected for multiple comparisons was the a priori set statistical threshold to infer significant effects from VBM. Volumetric 3D datasets were acquired using an MPRAGE sequence. Because of drop-outs during the race, VBM could be performed in 10 runners covering the first 3 time points, and in 7 runners who also had the follow-up scan after 8 months. Twelve runners were able to participate in the scan before the start of the race and were taken into account for comparison with control persons. A group of matched controls was recruited for comparison. Prior to the start of the race 13 runners volunteered to participate in this study of planned brain scans before, twice during, and 8 months after the race. Using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) we undertook a cross sectional study and two longitudinal studies. We hypothesized that ultra marathon athletes might have developed changes to grey matter (GM) brain morphology due to the burden of extreme physical training. During the 4,487 km ultra marathon TransEurope-FootRace 2009 (TEFR09), runners showed catabolism with considerable reduction of body weight as well as reversible brain volume reduction.
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