Can Exercise Rewire the Brain Addiction Circuitry?
- Conditions
- Physical Exercise
- Interventions
- Behavioral: Agility-Cognitive ExerciseBehavioral: Aerobic ExerciseBehavioral: Stretching/relaxation
- Registration Number
- NCT06317753
- Lead Sponsor
- University of Minho
- Brief Summary
The aim of the present study is to apply neuroimaging techniques to investigate how physical exercise may influence the addiction circuitry, ultimately reducing alcohol consumption and craving in youth binge drinkers. This proposal will advance knowledge on how exercise may modulate the neurocircuitry of addiction. Uncovering the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the interactive neural effects of exercise and alcohol intake may provide additional scientific insights for the development of preventive and intervention programs for youth BD and AUD.
- Detailed Description
The proposed research plan focuses on the identification of changes in the structural and functional brain parameters (e.g. volume, brain activity), in response to a physical exercise (PE) protocol, on the neurocircuitry of addiction, after a 4 month-intervention program in college binge drinkers (BDs). The main objectives of this proposal are: O1) to evaluate the potential benefits of PE on the brain structure and function, particularly in the neurocircuitry of addiction, in a sample of Portuguese college students with a binge drinking pattern of alcohol use; and O2) to determine whether the PE intervention reduces craving and alcohol consumption levels in BDs. The present project will involve: i) a pre-intervention comprehensive evaluation of behavioral (alcohol consumption), psychological (craving levels), physiological (VO2, HRV), and neurological (neuroimaging) variables; ii) a training phase consisting of 48 sessions (3 weekly sessions\*16 weeks) of aerobic (exp group 1), agility-cognitive (exp group 2) exercise and stretching (control group; iii) a post-intervention evaluation of behavioral, physiological, and neurological (neuroimaging) variables; iv) and a 6 months' follow- up evaluation of behavioral, physiologicaln and cognitive variables. A randomized controlled trial will be implemented at the University of Minho. It will include a total of 60 college students with a binge drinking pattern of alcohol intake, 20 participants per condition.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- NOT_YET_RECRUITING
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 60
- binge drinking > or = 5 ; > or =4 for women alcoholic drinks
- in the same time window (±2h)
- at least once per month
- <150 minutes of physical activity per week
- Major and/or unstable medical conditions
- Physical limitations that may constraint the practice of exercise
- Cardiovascular and respiratory insufficiency
- History of traumatic brain injury or neurological disorder
- Non-corrected sensory deficits
- Personal history of psychopathological disorders
- Family history of alcoholism or substance abuse in first degree relatives
- Consumption of medical drugs with psychoactive effects (e.g., sedatives or anxiolytics) during the month previous to the assessment
- Use of illegal drugs and AUDIT scores >20
- MRI contraindications
- Current or previous (past year) participation in a physical exercise program
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description Experimental condition 2 Agility-Cognitive Exercise Participants allocated to the Experimental condition 2 will be following an agility-cognitive exercise training program. Experimental condition 1 Aerobic Exercise Participants allocated to the Experimental condition 1 will be following a aerobic exercise training program. Control condition Stretching/relaxation Participants allocated to the Control condition will be following a stretching/relaxation training program.
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Behavioral: binge episodes Through study completion, an average of 1 year Number of binge drinking episodes
Psychological (craving levels) Through study completion, an average of 1 year Scores in the Alcohol Craving Questionnaire (The cutoff points for total scale points are: 12-17 = minimal desire, 18-25 = mild, 26-42 = moderate and 43 or more = severe)
Brain structural connectivity - MD Through study completion, an average of 1 year Structural connectivity-mean diffusivity-a scalar measure between zero and one that describes the total diffusion within a voxel
Brain structural connectivity - RD Through study completion, an average of 1 year Structural connectivity-radial diffusivity-a scalar measure between zero and one within a voxel that describes the magnitude of diffusion parallel to fiber tracts.
Behavioral : drunkenness Through study completion, an average of 1 year Percentage of drunkenness
Brain structure Through study completion, an average of 1 year Structure-volume in liters
Brain structural connectivity - AD Through study completion, an average of 1 year Structural connectivity-axial diffusivity-a scalar measure between zero and one within a voxel that describes the magnitude of diffusion parallel to fiber tracts.
Brain function-resting state Through study completion, an average of 1 year Functional connectivity for resting-state fMRI
Brain structural connectivity- FA Through study completion, an average of 1 year Structural connectivity-fractional anisotropy-scalar value between zero and one within a voxel that describes the degree of anisotropy of a diffusion process
Behavioral: alcohol consumption Through study completion, an average of 1 year Number of drinks per binge drinking episode
Brain function Through study completion, an average of 1 year Bold signal for Task-related fMRI
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Monetary Incentive Delay Task (included in the fMRI paradigm) - hits Through study completion, an average of 1 year Accuracy, measured through the number of hits to assess the hypothetical differences in participant's level of achievement between the pretest, posttest and follow-up assessments.
Monetary Incentive Delay Task (included in the fMRI paradigm) - reaction time Through study completion, an average of 1 year Reaction times, measured as seconds needed to give a response to assess the hypothetical differences in participant's level of achievement between the pretest, posttest and follow-up assessments.
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Through study completion, an average of 1 year BDNF (pg/ml) concentrations measured in saliva will be measured in pre-intervention, post-intervention, at the midpoint of the intervention (2 months), and at the follow-up to assess the effects of the physical exercise protocol on neuroplasticity-related molecular markers.
Dopamine Through study completion, an average of 1 year Dopamine (pg/ml) concentrations measured in urine will be measured in pre-intervention, post-intervention, at the midpoint of the intervention (2 months), and at the follow-up to assess the effects of the physical exercise protocol on reward-related molecular markers.
Maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) Through study completion, an average of 1 year VO2max (ml/kg/min) will be measured in the pretest and posttest evaluations to assess the effects of the physical exercise protocol on cardiovascular fitness.