Table 2.

Methodological characteristics & neuroimaging findings.

Study	Design	Intervention	Neuroimaging technique	Field strength	Included regions	Statistical threshold	Functional outcomes	Neuroimaging outcomes
Schizophrenia
Falkai et al., 2013	RCT	Schizophrenia exercise group 3 times a week, 12 weeks, 30 min, stationary cycling at an individually defined intensity gradually increased over intervention Healthy exercise group 3 times a week, 12 weeks, 30 min cycling Table football control group 3 times a week, 12 weeks, 30 min	sMRI	1.5T	Whole brain	Uncorrected	-Patients improved in short-term memory and PANSS total symptoms after exercise. -No time x group effects on fitness outcomes.	No exercise-related changes in cortical regions.
Lin et al., 2015	RCT	Exercise group 3 times a week, 12 weeks, 60 min, treadmill walking and stationary cycling at 50-60% VO2 max. Yoga group 3 times a week, 12 weeks, 60 min Waitlist control group	sMRI	3T	ROI	Uncorrected	-Both types of exercise improved working memory and overall and depressive symptoms (all P ⩽0.01). -A trend towards increased fitness in the aerobic exercise group (7.7%).	- Aerobic exercise was associated with increased hippocampal gray matter volume (F = 7.52, P = 0.01), mainly related to increases in the left hippocampus (F = 5.13, P = 0.03). - Yoga did not show significant changes in total hippocampal volume.
Lin et al., 2017	RCT	Exercise group 3 times a week, 12 weeks, 60 min, treadmill walking and stationary cycling at 50-60% VO2 max. Yoga group 3 times a week, 12 weeks, 60 min Waitlist control group	fMRI	3T	Whole brain	FWE	In yoga group, the ALFF changes in the precuneus were significantly correlated with the changes of PANSS negative scores (r=0.5906, p=0.003), especially with blunted affect subscores (r= 0.551, p = 0.012).	-Yoga was associated with decreased ALFF in precuneus compared to control (P<0.001) and aerobic exercise groups (P<0.001) and -Control group showed increased ALFF in visual cortex (P = 0.0018).
Malchow et al., 2015	RCT	Schizophrenia exercise group 3 times a week, 12 weeks, 30 min, stationary cycling at gradually increasing intensity Healthy exercise group 3 times a week, 12 weeks, 30 min Schizophrenia table soccer group 3 times a week, 12 weeks, 30 min	VBM	3T	Whole brain/ROI	FWE	After 3 months of endurance training, both the schizophrenia patient cohort (p= 0.009) and the healthy control cohort (p= 0.003) showed a significant improvement in Physical Working Capacity 130	- No exercise-related changes in bilateral hippocampal volumes. - Exercise participants showed increased volume of the left anterior temporal lobe (P < 0.05). - Participants from the table soccer control group showed increased motor cortex volumes and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) volumes (P < 0.05).
Pajonk et al., 2010	RCT	Schizophrenia exercise group 3 times a week, 12 weeks, 30 min, stationary cycling at an individually defined intensity gradually increased over intervention Healthy exercise group 3 times a week, 12 weeks, 30 min cycling Table football control group 3 times a week, 12 weeks, 30 min table football	sMRI	1.5T	ROI	Uncorrected	-Patients improved in short-term memory (F1,14 = 4.95; P = .04) and PANSS total symptoms (F1,14 = 6.76; P = .02) after exercise. -No relationship between changes in the PANSS total score and hippocampal volumes. -Change in hippocampal volume correlated with the change in STM r14 = 0.51; P < 0.05) - Changes in hippocampal volume in the exercise group were correlated with improvements in aerobic fitness (r = 0.71; P = .003). -No time x group effects on fitness outcomes (F1,19 = 0.9; P = .35).	- Hippocampal volume increased with 12% in the schizophrenia exercise group, significantly more than in the control group (F = 13.8, P = 0.002). - 1% volume decrease in the control group (F = 13.8, P = 0.002). - Hippocampal volume increased with 16% in the healthy individuals exercise group.
Rosenbaum et al., 2015	Pilot Longitudinal	Exercise group 2 times a week, 12 weeks, 45 min, stationary cycling at 65% heart rate of their VO2 max	sMRI	1.5T	ROI	Uncorrected	-At follow-up a statistically and clinically significant 20.1% mean increase in VO2 peak. -No statistically significant change was observed in short-term verbal or spatial memory or symptoms.	No significant effect of exercise training on hippocampal volume
Scheewe et al., 2013	RCT	Exercise group 2 times a week, 6 months, 40 min cycling/treadmill/elliptical at up to 75% of max heart rate, then 20 min resistance training Control group 2 times a week, 6 months, occupational therapy	sMRI	3T	Whole brain/ROI	FDR	CRF improvement was significantly related to cerebral matter volume increase(0.164ml/W; p=0.045),lateral ventricle (_0.018 ml/W; p=0.035)and third ventricle volume decrease (_0.0018 ml/W; p=0.013)in patients but not in healthy controls	- Exercise therapy did not increase global brain volume, hippocampal volume or cortical thickness in schizophrenia. - Cardio-respiratory fitness improvement was significantly related to cerebral matter volume increase (P = 0.045), lateral (P = 0.035) and third ventricle (P = 0.013) volume decrease and at trend level for cerebral gray matter (P = 0.059).
Svatkova et al., 2015	RCT	Exercise group 2 times a week, 6 months, 40 min cycling/treadmill/elliptical at up to 75% of max heart rate, then 20 min resistance training Schizophrenia control group Occupational therapy Healthy control group Life as usual	DTI	3T	Whole brain	FWE	-Significant differences in the exercise and nonexercise group from the first to second measurement were found in the cardiorespiratory fitness parameters (Wpeak, VO2peak), -In patients, a decrease in positive symptoms over time (dPANSSpos) significantly correlated with FA improvement over time (dFApicked) (r = −0.455, P = .008).	- Exercise improved white matter integrity in fiber tracts in the left corticospinal tract (LCST, P = .032), the left superior longitudinal fascicle (LSLF, P = .032), the left inferior longitudinal fascicle (LILF, P = 0.032), the left inferior fronto-occipital fascicle (LIFOF, P = 0.032), left anterior thalamic radiation (ATR, P = 0.048) and in the body and splenium of the corpus callosum (CC, P = 0.032).
Takahashi et al., 2012	RCT	Exercise group 2 times a day, 5 days/week, 3 months, 30-60 min, walking and jogging, muscle-stretching and sport group (basketball). Control group Care as usual	fMRI	1.5T	Whole brain	Uncorrected	-BMI and general psychopathology scale of PANSS were significantly reduced in the program group but not in the control group. -Increase in EBA activation was associated with improvement in the general psychopathology scale of PANSS	Exercise training was associated with activation of the body-selective extrastriate body area (EBA, x=42, y=72, z=4, Z score = 4.12) in the posterior temporal-occipital cortex during observation of sports-related actions.
Healthy individuals
Pereira et al., 2007	Longitudinal	Exercise group 4 times a week, 12 weeks, 40 min cycling/treadmill/climbing/ellitical, 20 min stretching Aerobic training (treadmill, cycling) and stretching	CBV	1.5T	ROI	Uncorrected	- VO2max values significantly increased over time (F=11.6, P= 0.007) -The CBV changes were found to correlate with cardiorespiratory and cognitive function.	Exercise was found to have a primary effect on dentate gyrus CBV (F = 12, P = 0.006) .
Tao et al., 2016	RCT	Exercise groups 5 days a week, 12 weeks, 30 min exercises, 30 min breathing/relaxation Tai Chi Chuan Baduanjin Control group One time basic health education, physical activity habits as usual	rsMRI	3.0T	ROI	FWE	-The memory quotient measured by the Wechsler Memory Scale-Chinese Revision significantly increased after Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin practice as compared with the control group, and no significant difference was observed in MQ between the Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin groups	-RsFC between the bilateral hippocampus and mPFC significantly increased (peak Z = 3.34) in the Tai Chi Chuan group compared to the control group (also in the Baduanjin group compared to the control group, but at a lower threshold) - No significant difference between the Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin groups.
Tao et al., 2017	RCT	Exercise groups 5 days a week, 12 weeks, 30 min exercises, 30 min breathing/relaxation Tai Chi Chuan Baduanjin Control group One time basic health education, physical activity habits as usual	rsMRI	3.0T	ROI	FWE	-Both Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin groups demonstrated significant improvements in mental control function. -Mental control improvement was negatively associated with rsFC DLPFC-putamen changes across all subjects	-the Tai Chi Chuan group showed a significant decrease in rsFC between the DLPFC and the left superior frontal gyrus (SFG, peak Z = 4.28) and anterior cingulate cortex (peak Z = 3.89) - the Baduanjin group showed a significant decrease in rsFC between the DLPFC and the left putamen (peak Z = 3.75) and insula (peak Z = 3.61)
Tozzi et al., 2016	RCT	Exercise group 2 times a week, 16 weeks, 5 min warm-up/5 min cool-down aerobic exercises <40% heart rate reserve, 21 min aerobic exercises at 40-59% HRR, 42 min 55-75% HRR Control group Physical activity as usual	rsMRI	3.0T	Whole brain/ROI	FDR	-Changes in mood disturbance following exercise were correlated with those in connectivity between parahippocampal gyrus and superior temporal gyrus as well as with the amount of training. -No changes in mood disturbance were detected in the control group.	- Exercise induced a decrease in local efficiency in the parahippocampal lobe (P = 0.03). - Network-based analysis (NBA) revealed an increased functional connectivity between the right parahippocampal gyrus and the left supramarginal gyrus (P = 0.01), the left precentral area (P = 0.005), the left superior temporal gyrus (P = 0.007) and the right superior temporal pole (P = 0.007) .
Wagner et al., 2015	RCT	Exercise group 3 times a week, 6 weeks, 5 min warm-up/5 min cool-down, 50 min stationary cycling at 77% ±9% VO2max Control group Physical activity as usual	VBM	3.0T	ROI	Uncorrected	The exercise group showed physical fitness improvements. Hippocampal volume decrease was negatively correlated with fitness improvement and increased BDNF levels.	Results revealed an average volume decrease of about 2%, which was restricted to right hippocampal subfields CA2/3 (P = 0.01), subiculum (P = 0.01), and dentate gyrus (P = 0.005).
Wagner et al., 2017	RCT	Exercise group 3 times a week, 6 weeks, 5 min warm-up/5 min cool-down, 50 min stationary cycling at 77% ±9% VO2max Control group Physical activity as usual	fMRI	3.0T	ROI	FWE	The exercise group showed physical fitness improvements. Both groups showed cognitive improvements.	A significantly increased (P < 0.05) activation in the exercise group was observed in the left anterior hippocampus for one of the two task conditions. Changes in exercise-induced BDNF were correlated with left anterior hippocampal activation. Additionally, the motor network showed stronger activation after the exercise intervention in both task conditions.