Regionally accentuated reversible brain grey matter reduction in ultra marathon runners detected by voxel-based morphometry

• Published in: BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation medicine & rehabilitation, 2014-01, Vol.6 (1), p.4-4, Article 4
• Main Authors: Freund, Wolfgang, Faust, Sonja, Gaser, Christian, Grön, Georg, Birklein, Frank, Wunderlich, Arthur P, Müller, Marguerite, Billich, Christian, Schütz, Uwe H
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2052-1847; 2052-1847
• DOI: 10.1186/2052-1847-6-4

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. We hypothesized that ultra marathon athletes might have developed changes to grey matter (GM) brain morphology due to the burden of extreme physical training. Using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) we undertook a cross sectional study and two longitudinal studies. 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. A group of matched controls was recruited for comparison. 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. 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. Volumetric 3D datasets were acquired using an MPRAGE sequence. A level of p