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BRAIN ADAPTATION AND RESILIENCE DURING ENDURANCE EXERCISE
Iñigo Lópezand 5 co-authors
University of Basque Country
FENS Forum 2026 (2026)
Barcelona, Spain
Board PS05-09AM-505
Presentation
Date TBA
Board: PS05-09AM-505
Event Information
Poster Board
PS05-09AM-505
Poster
View posterAbstract
Endurance exercise imposes extreme metabolic demands on the adult human brain, raising the question of how core brain function is sustained under such physiological challenge. We recently showed that marathon running induces a reversible reduction of myelin in specific white-matter tracts, suggesting that myelin remodeling accompanies sustained neural activity under metabolic stress. Here, we asked whether this reversible myelin remodeling is functionally tolerated, preserving neural signal transmission and cognition during extreme endurance exercise. Neurophysiological recordings revealed maintained conduction latencies across motor, somatosensory, visual, and auditory pathways within 48 hours after race completion, indicating intact axonal signal transmission despite prior evidence of reduced myelin content. In contrast, cognitive testing revealed selective and transient modulation of higher-order processing: marathon runners showed attenuated practice-related improvements in processing speed and a short-lived increase in cognitive interference, whereas visuomotor speed and executive flexibility exhibited robust practice-related improvements. All cognitive measures normalized one month after the race. Together, these findings show that endurance exercise is associated with maintained neural signal transmission and largely unchanged cognitive function, accompanied by reversible and selective cognitive adaptation. Our results support a dynamic view in which reversible myelin remodeling occurs within an adaptive physiological framework that preserves neural signaling and permits transient, selective cognitive adaptation under extreme metabolic challenge.
This work was supported by EITB-Maratoia (BIO22/ALZ/015), Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (PID2022-143020OB-I00), Basque Government (IT1551-22) and CIBERNED (CB06/05/00 76). E. L-M holds a fellowship from the Basque Government.
This work was supported by EITB-Maratoia (BIO22/ALZ/015), Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (PID2022-143020OB-I00), Basque Government (IT1551-22) and CIBERNED (CB06/05/00 76). E. L-M holds a fellowship from the Basque Government.
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