Cycling on a bike desk positively influences cognitive performance

Purpose: cycling desks as a means to reduce sedentary time in the office has gained interest as excessive sitting has been associated with several health risks. However, the question rises if people will still be as efficient in performing their desk-based office work when combining this with stationary cycling. Therefore, the effect of cycling at 30% Wmax on typing, cognitive performance and brain activity was investigated. Methods: After two familiarisation sessions, 23 participants performed a test battery [typing test, Rey auditory verbal learning test (RAVLT), Stroop test and Rosvold continuous performance test (RCPT)] with electroencephalography recording while cycling and sitting on a conventional chair. Results: Typing performance, performance on the RAVLT and accuracy on the Stroop test and the RCPT did not differ between conditions. Reaction times on the Stroop test and the RCPT were shorter while cycling relative to sitting (p < 0.05). N200, P300, N450 and conflict SP latency and amplitude on the Stroop test and N200 and P300 on the RCPT did not differ between conditions. Conclusions: This study showed that typing performance and short-term memory are not deteriorated when people cycle at 30% Wmax. Furthermore, cycling had a positive effect on response speed across tasks requiring variable amounts of attention and inhibition

Les flavanols de cacao, l'exercice et le cerveau

Sports performance depends on physical factors, but also on cognitive functioning. Nutritional supplements as potential ergogenic aids can impact muscle, but also the brain. Cocoa flavanols (CF) have antioxidant capacities, can stimulate vascular function, and potentially enhance cognitive function. CF intake might thus improve exercise performance and recovery by reducing oxidative stress, increasing NO availability and/or boosting cognitive function. It is the purpose of this PhD to identify the effects of CF on physical and cognitive performance in healthy athletes at sea level and altitude, as well as in patients with type 1 diabetes. Our systematic review showed that CF can reduce exercise-induced oxidative stress, but without improving exercise performance. Combining CF intake and exercise training improves cardiovascular risk factors and vascular function in healthy and overweight participants, but evidence on the synergistic effects of CF and exercise training on oxidative stress, inflammation and fat and glucose metabolism is lacking.In a randomized, placebo-controlled, double blind cross-over study, we showed that 900 mg CF intake increased prefrontal oxygenation in athletes, but without affecting executive function. BDNF was not affected by CF intake. The effects of high-intensity exercise largely overruled the effects of CF intake: large beneficial effects of exercise on prefrontal oxygenation and cognitive function were observed and CF supplementation did not enlarge these effects. In a 2nd study, the effect of acute CF intake (530 mg CF) on performance on a demanding cognitive test was assessed in normoxia and hypoxia (simulated altitude 4000 m). Electroencephalogram and fNIRS were used to analyse neuronal activity and hemodynamic changes. Acute CF intake improved the neurovascular response, but did not affect neuronal activity and cognitive performance in normoxia and hypoxia. Most cognitive functions, the cerebrovascular response and neuronal activity, were not altered in hypoxia in healthy subjects. In a 3rd study, we found that acute intake of 900 mg CF enhanced cognitive performance on the Flanker test in patients with type 1 diabetes, and their healthy matched controls. CF intake increased the BOLD response in brain areas activated during this specific task. While cognitive performance was not deteriorated in patients with type 1 diabetes, a different brain activation pattern during the cognitive task was observed, compared to healthy controls and this brain activation pattern was altered by CF intake. To conclude, acute CF intake improves prefrontal oxygenation and cerebrovascular responsiveness. This can be associated with better cognitive function in patients with type 1 diabetes, but does not result in improved executive function in healthy persons. Compared to exercise, the magnitude of the CF-induced neurovascular changes is small.Two studies were conducted examining the effects of CF on exercise-induced oxidative stress, NO availability and its implications for exercise performance, in well-trained cyclists. We found that acute CF (900 mg) improved the exercise-induced increase in total antioxidant capacity, but did not reduce the exercise-induced increase in lipid peroxidation. One week CF intake (530 mg CF) improved vascular function at rest, and prefrontal oxygenation at rest and during low-intensity exercise, but did not influence muscular oxygenation. One week CF intake partially restored the hypoxia-induced decline in prefrontal oxygenation during rest and low-intensity exercise, but not during high-intensity exercise. One week CF intake reduced exercise-induced lipid peroxidation, but did not alter total antioxidant capacity. Both acute and 1-week CF intake did not improve exercise performance and recovery and do not change NO production during exercise (in normoxia and hypoxia) in well-trained athletes.Les athlètes utilisent les suppléments nutritionnels avec pour objectif d'améliorer leur performance sportive. La performance sportive dépend de facteurs physiques, mais également de facteurs cognitifs. Les suppléments nutritionnels riches en flavanols issu du cacao (CF) peuvent stimuler la fonction vasculaire, réduire le stress oxydant et améliorer la fonction cognitive. L'objectif de cette thèse est donc d’analyser les effets d'une consommation aigue, ou pendant une semaine, de CF, sur la performance physique et cognitive chez des athlètes, chez des sujets actifs et chez des personnes ayant un diabète de type 1 (DT1). De plus, l’objectif est d’investiguer les effets des CF en altitude simulé, où l’hypoxie limite la performance cognitive et physique.La consommation aigue de 900 mg CF (dont 196 mg d'épicatéchine) suscite une augmentation de l’oxygénation cérébrale, mais pas de la concentration de BDNF sérique et n'a pas d’effet sur la fonction cognitive chez des sportifs sains. L’effet bénéfique des CF sur l’oxygénation cérébrale au repos est dépassé par l’ampleur de l’augmentation de la perfusion et de l’oxygénation cérébrale à l’exercice physique et n'est donc plus visible en post-exercice.En hypoxie (altitude simulée de 4000 m), la consommation aigue de 530 mg CF (dont 100 mg d'épicatéchine) augmente la réponse hémodynamique du cortex préfrontal durant une tâche cognitive, mais n’affecte pas l’activité neuronale. Les CF améliorent la pensée abstraite en normoxie, mais n’améliorent aucun autre domaine des fonctions cognitives. Seule la précision lors du test de Stroop est diminuée par l’hypoxie. De plus, la réponse hémodynamique du cortex préfrontale et l’activité neuronale ne diffèrent pas en hypoxie vs. en normoxie.Le diabète de type 1 (DT1) est associé avec une dysfonction endothéliale, qui constitue un des facteurs de déclin cognitif lié au diabète. Dans une 3ième étude, la fonction cognitive n’est pas altérée chez les patients DT1, en comparaison des sujets sains, alors que l'activation cérébrale diffère entre ces 2 groupes. Cette différence d'activation cérébrale pourrait alors jouer un rôle compensatoire chez les patients DT1. La consommation aigue de CF peut améliorer les fonctions exécutives chez des patients DT1 et des sujets sains, et peut augmenter le signal BOLD dans les régions du cerveau activées par les tâches cognitives.Ainsi, la consommation aigue de CF augmente la vasoréactivité cérébrale. Ces changements sont associés avec une meilleure fonction cognitive chez des patients DT1, alors que ce n’est pas le cas chez des sujets entraînés, ni au niveau de la mer, ni en hypoxie. Malgré ces effets bénéfiques des CF, l’exercice physique semble rester un moyen beaucoup plus efficace pour stimuler la vasoreactivité cérébrale et les fonctions cognitives.Nous nous sommes aussi intéressés aux effets de CF sur la capacité antioxydante, le stress oxydant et la production de NO pendant l’exercice, ainsi que sur les implications pour la performance physique et la récupération, chez des athlètes. La consommation aigue de 903 mg CF augmente la capacité antioxydante au repos et pendant l’exercice, mais sans réduire le stress oxydant et la production de NO. La consommation pendant une semaine de 530 mg CF (dont 100 mg d'épicatéchine) atténue la peroxydation lipidique induite par l’exercice, mais n’influence pas la capacité antioxydante. Les CF ne modifient pas la production et la biodisponibilité du NO pendant un exercice en normoxie et en hypoxie (altitude simulée de 3000 m). La consommation de CF pendant une semaine peut augmenter la fonction endothéliale de repos, et peut réduire les effets nuisibles de l'hypoxie sur l’oxygénation préfrontale au repos et pendant l’exercice modéré. Par contre, cet effet disparait pendant l’exercice intense. La consommation aigue, et pendant une semaine, de CF n’augmente pas la performance physique, ni en normoxie, ni en hypoxie

Acute cocoa flavanol improves cerebral oxygenation without enhancing executive function at rest or after exercise

Acute exercise-induced improvements in cognitive function are accompanied by increased (cerebral) blood flow and increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels. Acute cocoa flavanol (CF) intake may improve cognitive function, cerebral blood flow (in humans), and BNDF levels (in animals). This study investigated (i) the effect of CF intake in combination with exercise on cognitive function and (ii) cerebral hemodynamics and BDNF in response to CF intake and exercise. Twelve healthy men participated in this randomized, double-blind, crossover study. Participants performed a cognitive task (CT) at 100 min after acute 903-mg CF or placebo (PL) intake, followed by a 30-min time-trial. Immediately after this exercise, the same CT was performed. Prefrontal near-infrared spectroscopy was applied during CT and exercise to measure changes in oxygenated (Delta HbO(2)), deoxygenated (Delta HHb), and total haemoglobin (Delta Hb(tot)) and blood samples were drawn and analyzed for BDNF. Reaction time was faster postexercise, but was not influenced by CF. Delta HbO(2) during the resting CT was increased by CF, compared with PL. Delta HbO(2), Delta HHb, and Delta Hb(tot) increased in response to exercise without any effect of CF. During the postexercise cognitive task, there were no hemodynamic differences between CF or PL. Serum BDNF was increased by exercise, but was not influenced by CF. In conclusion, at rest, CF intake increased cerebral oxygenation, but not BDNF concentrations, and no impact on executive function was detected. This beneficial effect of CF on cerebral oxygenation at rest was overruled by the strong exercise-induced increases in cerebral perfusion and oxygenation

Human tissue-engineered skeletal muscle: a novel 3D in vitro model for drug disposition and toxicity after intramuscular injection.

The development of laboratory-grown tissues, referred to as organoids, bio-artificial tissue or tissue-engineered constructs, is clearly expanding. We describe for the first time how engineered human muscles can be applied as a pre- or non-clinical model for intramuscular drug injection to further decrease and complement the use of in vivo animal studies. The human bio-artificial muscle (BAM) is formed in a seven day tissue engineering procedure during which human myoblasts fuse and differentiate to aligned myofibers in an extracellular matrix. The dimensions of the BAM constructs allow for injection and follow-up during several days after injection. A stereotactic setup allows controllable injection at multiple sites in the BAM. We injected several compounds; a dye, a hydrolysable compound, a reducible substrate and a wasp venom toxin. Afterwards, direct reflux, release and metabolism were assessed in the BAM constructs in comparison to 2D cell culture and isolated human muscle strips. Spectrophotometry and luminescence allowed to measure the release of the injected compounds and their metabolites over time. A release profile over 40 hours was observed in the BAM model in contrast to 2D cell culture, showing the capacity of the BAM model to function as a drug depot. We also determined compound toxicity on the BAMs by measuring creatine kinase release in the medium, which increased with increasing toxic insult. Taken together, we show that the BAM is an injectable human 3D cell culture model that can be used to measure release and metabolism of injected compounds in vitro.status: Published onlin

Towards Optimized Care After Bariatric Surgery by Physical Activity and Exercise Intervention: a Review

Although there is growing evidence on the importance of physical activity and exercise intervention after bariatric surgery, it remains to be clarified as to why and how post-operative exercise intervention should be implemented. In this narrative and practically oriented review, it is explained why exercise interventions and physical activity are important after bariatric surgery, how to prescribe exercise and monitor physical activity and how and when physical fitness, muscle strength, fat (-free) mass and bone mineral density could be assessed during follow-up. It is suggested that the inclusion of physical activity and exercise training in the clinical follow-up trajectory could be of great benefit to bariatric surgery patients, since it leads to greater improvements in body composition, bone mineral density, muscle strength and physical fitness.status: publishe

Endothelial network formation within human tissue-engineered skeletal muscle

The size of in vitro engineered skeletal muscle tissue is limited due to the lack of a vascular network in vitro. In this article, we report tissue-engineered skeletal muscle consisting of human aligned myofibers with interspersed endothelial networks. We extend our bioartificial muscle (BAM) model by coculturing human muscle progenitor cells with human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in a fibrin extracellular matrix (ECM). First, the optimal medium conditions for coculturing myoblasts with HUVECs were determined in a fusion assay. Endothelial growth medium proved to be the best compromise for the coculture, without affecting the myoblast fusion index. Second, both cell types were cocultured in a BAM maintained under tension to stimulate myofiber alignment. We then tested different total cell numbers containing 50% HUVECs and found that BAMs with a total cell number of 2 × 10(6) resulted in well-aligned and densely packed myofibers while allowing for improved interspersed endothelial network formation. Third, we compared different myoblast-HUVEC ratios. Including higher numbers of myoblasts improved endothelial network formation at lower total cell density; however, improvement of network characteristics reached a plateau when 1 × 10(6) or more myoblasts were present. Finally, addition of Matrigel to the fibrin ECM did not enhance overall myofiber and endothelial network formation. Therefore, in our BAM model, we suggest the use of a fibrin extracellular matrix containing 2 × 10(6) cells of which 50-70% are muscle cells. Optimizing these coculture conditions allows for a physiologically more relevant muscle model and paves the way toward engineering of larger in vitro muscle constructs.status: publishe

Bike desks in the office: physical health, cognitive function, work engagement, and work performance

Objective:The aim of this study was to examine the longitudinal effect of implementing bike desks in an office setting on physical health, cognition, and work parameters.Methods:Physical health, cognitive function, work engagement, and work performance measured before (T0) and after (T2) the intervention period were compared between office workers who used the bike desk (IG, n=22) and those who did not (CG, n=16). Results:The IG cycled approximately 98minutes/week. The IG showed a significantly lower fat percentage and a trend toward a higher work engagement at T2 relative to T0, while this was not different for the CG. No effects on other parameters of health, cognition, or work performance were found. Conclusions:Providing bike desks in the office positively influences employees' fat percentage and could positively influence work engagement without compromising work performance

Metabolic studies of prostanozol with the uPA-SCID chimeric mouse model and human liver microsomes

Anabolic androgenic steroids are prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency because of their adverse health and performance enhancing effects. Effective control of their misuse by detection in urine requires knowledge about their metabolism. In case of designer steroids, ethical objections limit the use of human volunteers to perform excretion studies. Therefore the suitability of alternative models needs to be investigated. In this study pooled human liver microsomes (HLM) and an uPA(+/+)-SCID chimeric mouse model were used to examine the metabolism of the designer steroid prostanozol as a reference standard. Metabolites were detected by GC-MS (full scan) and LC-MS/MS (precursor ion scan). In total twenty-four prostanozol metabolites were detected with the in vitro and in vivo metabolism studies, which could be grouped into two broad classes, those with a 17-hydroxy- and those with a 17-keto-substituent. Major first phase metabolic sites were tentatively identified as C-3'; C-4 and C-16. Moreover, 3'- and 16β-hydroxy-17-ketoprostanozol could be unequivocally identified, since authentic reference material was available, in both models. Comparison with published data from humans showed a good correlation, except for phase II metabolism. As metabolites were in contrast to the human studies predominantly present in the free fraction. Two types of metabolites ((di)hydroxylated prostanozol metabolites) that have not been described before could be confirmed in a real positive doping control sample. Hence, the results provide further evidence for the applicability of chimeric mice and HLM to perform metabolism studies of designer steroids