| Research Background:Tai Chi Chuan(TCC)is a traditional aerobic exercise in China,attracting more and more elderly people because of its gentle and slow characteristics.As well as the moderate intensity and unique congruence in our body and mind are particularly suitable for the elderly to participate.The positive effects of TCC on the cognition of the elderly have been reported in many previous research.However,little attention is paid to the influence of TCC on cognition function by employing magnetic resonance imaging.Research Objectives:Employ multi-modal magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the difference of functional network and brain structure network and between TCC group and walking group in terms of local brain function activity and global brain function network.The parameters of the macro brain network,can firstly advance our understanding in the working mechanism of TCC in the elderly;secondly provide the imaging basis for the delay of cognitive decline of the elderly practicing TCC.Materials and Methods:In the present experiment,TCC exercise group and walking group were recruited in Suzhou city,and 20 TCC group were selected as the research subjects.Among these 20 subjects,ten of them were state-level TCC social instructors,and the rest were provincial-level and second-level Yang's TCC social instructors.Yang's TCC was practiced 5±1 times a week and about 1.5 hours each time.The average age was 62.81 ± 3.02 years,and the education time was 9.05± 1.96 years.22 people were selected as the walking group taking walking as the main way of exercise,whose walking time was no less than 5 times a week,and no less than 1.5 hours each time.The average age was(63.55± 3.04)years,and the length of education was(8.73±2.21)years.The training time of both groups was more than 6 years.DPARSF software package based on MATLAB 13b platform was used to pretreat the resting data of two groups.GIFT software package was used to decompose the pretreated data into independent components.SPM12 software package was used to analyze the data with age and years of education as covariates.And the single sample T test was used for statistical analysis within the group,and independent sample T test was used for statistical analysis between the groups.The structure images of the two groups were segmented into gray matter,white matter and cerebrospinal fluid by using VBM software package.The direct correlation coefficients of each brain region were calculated by using the volume of gray matter.The brain structure network of TCC group and walking group was constructed by using GAT software package.Results:The default network,sensorimotor network and visual network of resting functional magnetic resonance in TCC group were significantly different from those in walking group.There were small world attributes in the brain structure of both TCC group and walking group.Although there was no significant statistical difference in the parameters of brain structure network between TCC group and walking group,it can be seen that the small world attributes of TCC training group were higher than that of walking group in different sparseness.Conclusion:Two different exercises can affect the brain functional structure network of the elderly,and the difference between the two groups indicates that TCC can change the brain response by manipulating different brain functional structures.TCC practices may be more reasonable and efficient for the cognition function of elder people. |
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