Bone and Joint Institute
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2016
Journal
Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience
Volume
7
Issue
JAN
URL with Digital Object Identifier
10.3389/fnagi.2015.00224
Abstract
© 2016 Anazodo, Shoemaker, Suskin, Ssali, Wang and St. Lawrence. Coronary artery disease (CAD) poses a risk to the cerebrovascular function of older adults and has been linked to impaired cognitive abilities. Using magnetic resonance perfusion imaging, we investigated changes in resting cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) to hypercapnia in 34 CAD patients and 21 age-matched controls. Gray matter volume (GMV)s were acquired and used as a confounding variable to separate changes in structure from function. Compared to healthy controls, CAD patients demonstrated reduced CBF in the superior frontal, anterior cingulate (AC), insular, pre- and post-central gyri, middle temporal, and superior temporal regions. Subsequent analysis of these regions demonstrated decreased CVR in the AC, insula, post-central and superior frontal regions. Except in the superior frontal and precentral regions, regional reductions in CBF and CVR were identified in brain areas where no detectable reductions in GMV were observed, demonstrating that these vascular changes were independent of brain atrophy. Because aerobic fitness training can improve brain function, potential changes in regional CBF were investigated in the CAD patients after completion of a 6-months exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation program. Increased CBF was observed in the bilateral AC, as well as recovery of CBF in the dorsal aspect of the right AC, where the magnitude of increased CBF was roughly equal to the reduction in CBF at baseline compared to controls. These exercise-related improvements in CBF in the AC is intriguing given the role of this area in cognitive processing and regulation of cardiovascular autonomic control.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Notes
Copyright © 2016 Anazodo, Shoemaker, Suskin, Ssali, Wang and St. Lawrence.This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
The article was originally published at:
Anazodo UC, Shoemaker JK, Suskin N, Ssali T, Wang DJJ and St. Lawrence KS (2016) Impaired Cerebrovascular Function in Coronary Artery Disease Patients and Recovery Following Cardiac Rehabilitation. Front. Aging Neurosci. 7:224. DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2015.00224