Running effects on cognition and plasticity (ReCaP): study protocol of a longitudinal examination of multimodal adaptations of marathon running

ABSTRACT

Regular moderate physical activity (PA) has been linked to beneficial adaptations in various somatic diseases (e.g. cancer, endocrinological disorders) and a reduction in all-cause mortality from several cardiovascular and neuropsychiatric diseases. This study was designed to investigate acute and prolonged exercise-induced cardio- and neurophysiological responses in endurance runners competing in the Munich Marathon. ReCaP (Running effects on Cognition and Plasticity) is a multimodal and longitudinal experimental study. This study included 100 participants (20–60 years). Six laboratory visits were included during the 3-month period before and the 3-month period after the Munich marathon. The multimodal assessment included laboratory measurements, cardiac and cranial imaging (MRI scans, ultrasound/echocardiography) and neurophysiological methods (EEG and TMS/tDCS), and vessel-analysis (e.g. retinal vessels and wave-reflection analyses) and neurocognitive measurements. The ReCaP study was designed to examine novel exercise-induced cardio- and neurophysiological responses to marathon running at the behavioral, functional and morphological levels. This study will expand our understanding of exercise-induced adaptations and will lead to more individually tailored therapeutic options.

KEYWORDS:

• Marathon
• exercise
• cardiovascular adaptations
• cognitive
• plasticity

Acknowledgments

We thank all participants of the trial and the whole ReCaP study group: Raffaela Raab, Joanna Moussiopoulou, Viola Groh, Wolfgang Strube, Maximilian Hansbauer, Thanh Duyen Tieu, Thomas Görlitz, Nana-Yaw Bimpong-Buta, Pia von Korn, Otto Zelger, Milan Dinic, Christoph Thoeringer, Johanna Bobardt, Daniel Keeser, Mattia Campana, Valerie Kirsch, Denise Steffinger, Stephanie Friedel and Thomas Schneider-Axmann for statistical analyses.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study proceedings agreed with Good Clinical Practice guidelines, the guiding principles of the Declaration of Helsinki 2008, and local laws and regulations. The study protocol was approved by the ethics committees of both the Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich (approval reference number 17-148) and the Technical University Munich (approval reference number 218/17 S). Possible amendments will have to be agreed by both ethics committees. The study was registered the WHO international clinical trials registry platform under the main ID DRKS00012496. The full trial protocol is available from the corresponding author. For all participants, insurance was provided by Ecclesia Mildenberger Hospital GmbH. All participants provided written informed consent prior to inclusion in the study.