[Health Qigong Wuqinxi improves hydrogen proton magnetic resonance spectra in prefrontal cortex and hippocampus in college students with mild depression].

Author: Cheng X1, Wang DM, Chen X, Wang W, Liu C, He T, He L, Qin QZ
Affiliation:
1Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400015, China.E-mail: chengxiang134@126.com.
Conference/Journal: Nan Fang Yi Ke Da Xue Xue Bao.
Date published: 2016 Nov 20
Other: Volume ID: 36 , Issue ID: 11 , Pages: 1468-1476 , Special Notes: [Article in Chinese] , Word Count: 386


OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of health Qigong Wuqinxi exercise on mild depression in college students and analyze the changes in hydrogen proton magnetic resonance spectra (1H-MRS) in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus after the exercise.

METHODS: Fifty-eight volunteer college students, including 30 with mild depression and 28 healthy students, were randomized into the intervention group and non-intervention group. The students in the intervention group were asked to practice health Qigong Wuqinxi training for 12 weeks and those in the non-intervention group did not engage in such training. For each subject, BECK Depression Self-reported questionnaire (BDI), Hamilton Depression rating scale (HAMD) score, and the metabolic parameters of 1H-MRS in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus were evaluated before and after the intervention.

RESULTS: Before the intervention, the scores of BDI and HAMD in the depression group were significantly higher than that in the control group (P<0.01), and were lowered obviously after the 12-week intervention (P<0.01). Compared with the control group, 1H-MRS in the depression group before intervention showed significantly increased NAA/Cr value in the left prefrontal cortex, Cho/Cr value in the bilateral hippocampus and the left frontal lobe, and Cho/Cr value of the left hippocampus and right frontal lobe (P<0.05) with significantly lowered NAA/Cho value in the bilateral prefrontal and Cho/NAA value in the right hippocampus (P<0.05). After 12 weeks of intervention, NAA/Cr value in the bilateral hippocampus and the NAA/Cho value in the right hippocampus were significantly lowered (P<0.05), and NAA/Cho value in the right prefrontal and Cho/NAA value in the right hippocampus were significantly increased (P<0.05) in the depression group. Before the intervention, Pearson correlation analysis showed that the scores of HAMD and BDI were positively correlated with Cho/Cr value in the hippocampus and NAA/Cr value in prefrontal lobe (P<0.01) and inversely with NAA/Cho in prefrontal lobe and Cho/NAA value in the hippocampus (P<0.05); after the intervention, the scores of HAMD and BDI were positively correlated with NAA/Cr value in the hippocampus and Cho/Cr value in the left hippocampus (P<0.05).

CONCLUSION: Exercise of health Qigong Wuqinxi can reduce depression scale scores in patients with mild depression and improve the metabolic indexes (NAA/Cr and Cho/Cr values) in the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus.

PMID: 27881335

BACK