Cerebral Cortex Changes in Basketball Players

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Sports Medicine
• Radiology

Background:

• Elite athletes exhibit sport-specific brain structural and functional changes.
• Previous manual MRI analysis of basketball players showed no difference in total cerebellar volume but increased striatum and cerebellar lobule volumes.
• Automatic analysis tools were used to investigate cerebral cortical plasticity in basketball players.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate cerebral cortical plasticity in elite basketball players using automated MRI analysis.
• To identify specific brain regions affected by the demands of professional basketball.

Main Methods:

• Brain MRI data from 19 male university basketball players and 20 controls were analyzed.
• Automated MRI techniques, including voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and surface-based morphometry (SBM), were employed.
• Fractal dimensional analysis was used to assess changes in cortical complexity.

Main Results:

• VBM indicated increased gray and white matter in precentral gyri and paracentral lobules, and gray matter in the right anterior superior temporal gyrus.
• SBM revealed left-dominant increases in pericentral gyri.
• Fractal analysis showed increased area in precentral gyri, left subcallosal gyrus, and right posterior cingulate gyrus.

Conclusions:

• Elite basketball players exhibit plastic changes in precentral gyri, pericentral areas, paracentral lobules, and the right superior temporal gyrus.
• Significant increases in fractal complexity were observed in the precentral gyri, with weaker increases in the posterior cingulate and collateral gyri.
• These identified plastic brain regions are functionally linked to the neuroanatomical demands of basketball competence.