Figure 3.

Increased biomarker levels correlate with hippocampal brain signals after moderate intensity exercise. (A) Increased Anandamide level (AEA) after moderate and high physical exercise compared to rest. For all Exercising Conditions Δ AEA corresponds to the difference in AEA between the second blood sample (after exercise or rest) and first blood sample (before exercise or rest). (B) Increased right hippocampal activity for hits after moderate exercise compared to hits after rest correlated with the increase in AEA level after moderate exercise [z score = 3.72 (38, − 14, − 20), p < 0.05 SVC corrected for multiple comparisons]. (C) Correlation between the beta values from the right hippocampal activation described in (B) and AEA, shown here for illustrative purposes only. (D) Increased BDNF levels after moderate and high intensity exercise compared to after rest. For all Exercising conditions, Δ BDNF corresponds to the difference in BDNF between the second blood sample and the first blood sample. (E) Higher decoding accuracy for hits in the bilateral hippocampus after moderate exercise than after rest and high intensity exercise. (F) Significant positive correlation between decoding accuracy in the hippocampus and increase in BDNF level after moderate intensity exercise (R = 0.53, p = 0.04, corrected for multiple comparisons). Activation map displayed on the mean T1 anatomical scan of the studied population.