Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to measure the EEG response in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and motor cortex (MC) during incremental exercise and align these responses with ventilatory parameters.
Methods
The EEG activity at the motor (MC) and frontal cortices was measured during an incremental exercise test (IET) in 11 cyclists (peak oxygen uptake \(\left( {\dot{V}{\text{O}}_{{2 {\text{peak}}}} } \right)\) 4.1 ± 0.74 (SD) L min−1). EEG power spectral densities were calculated for alpha slow (αS) (8–10 Hz), alpha fast, (αF) (10–13 Hz), Beta (β) (13–30 Hz), and Gamma (γ) (30–40 Hz). EEG data were calculated as % change from eyes open (EO) baseline and a repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed on regions of interest (ROI), time and bandwidth.
Results
All EEG activity increased from 50 % \(\dot{V}{\text{O}}_{{ 2 {\text{peak}}}}\) to ventilatory threshold (VT) (P = 0.045) and respiratory compensation point (RCP) (P = 0.019) and decreased from RCP to end of exercise (END) (P = 0.04). Significant differences between regions were found at the VLPFC and MC for both αS and αF. αS and αF increased from 50 % \(\dot{V}{\text{O}}_{{ 2 {\text{peak}}}}\) to RCP (14.9 ± 10.2 to 23.8 ± 15.5 and 18.9 ± 10.6 to 26.12 ± 12.7, respectively) and then decreased to END (23.8 ± 15.5 to 14.4 ± 10.3 and 26.1 ± 12.7, to 17.7 ± 8.8, respectively) (P < 0.01) and concomitantly only decreased significantly in MC in αF from VT to END (P < 0.05).
Conclusion
There is a decline in the EEG response to exercise in the PFC following the RCP, whilst alpha activity in the MC is preferentially maintained; therefore, changes within the PFC appear to play a role in exercise termination.
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Abbreviations
- PaCO2 :
-
Arterial carbon dioxide tension
- \(\dot{V}{\text{O}}_{{ 2 {\text{peak}}}}\) :
-
Peak oxygen consumption
- \(\dot{V}{\text{E}}/\dot{V}{\text{O}}_{2}\) :
-
Ventilatory equivalent for oxygen
- \(\dot{V}{\text{E}}/\dot{V}{\text{CO}}_{2}\) :
-
Ventilatory equivalent for carbon dioxide
- ACC:
-
Anterior cingulate cortex
- ANOVA:
-
Analysis of variance
- AntPFC:
-
Anterior prefrontal cortex
- COxy:
-
Cerebral oxygenation
- DLPFC:
-
Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
- EEG:
-
Electroencephalography
- IET:
-
Incremental exercise test
- MC:
-
Motor cortex
- MCAv:
-
Middle cerebral artery velocity
- MRCP:
-
Movement-related cortical potentials
- NIRS:
-
Near infra-red spectroscopy
- PFC:
-
Prefrontal cortex
- RCP:
-
Respiratory compensation point
- ROI:
-
Region of interest
- sLORETA:
-
Standardised low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography
- VLPFC:
-
Ventrolateral prefrontal cortex
- VT:
-
Ventilatory threshold
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Acknowledgments
We wish to thank Professor Rob Robergs for his contribution in the development of the \(\dot{V}{\text{O}}_{2}\) system, lab view programming and advice.
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The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.
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Communicated by Toshio Moritani.
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Robertson, C.V., Marino, F.E. Prefrontal and motor cortex EEG responses and their relationship to ventilatory thresholds during exhaustive incremental exercise. Eur J Appl Physiol 115, 1939–1948 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-015-3177-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-015-3177-x