Impacts of aerobic exercise and whole-body vibration interventions on myokines and neurocognitive performance in postmenopausal women

This study investigated the effects of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise (MIAE) and MIAE combined with isometric resistance exercise on a whole-body vibration (WBV) platform (MIAE+WBV) compared with the effects of no exercise (NEI) on neurocognitive and molecular indices in 71 sedentary, healthy postmenopausal women. Participants were randomly assigned to MIAE (n = 23), MIAE+WBV (n = 23), and NEI (n = 25) groups. Neurocognitive measures, including accuracy rate (AR), reaction time (RT), and electroencephalogram-based event-related potentials (P2, N2, and P3 components) during the Stroop task, in addition to serum levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), norepinephrine (NE), osteocalcin (OC), carboxylated OC (cOC), and uncarboxylated OC (ucOC), were evaluated before and after the intervention. Although no significant changes were observed in reaction times (RT), ERP latencies, or N2 or P3 amplitudes for the compatible condition, both exercise groups showed significant increases in accuracy rate (AR) and P3 amplitude for the incompatible condition. Only the MIAE+WBV group exhibited improvements in ARs for the compatible condition and P2 amplitudes for the incompatible condition. After exercise, both groups exhibited elevated IGF-1, NE, OC, and ucOC levels, with WBV following MIAE resulting in increases in IGF-1, OC, cOC, and ucOC in the MIAE+WBV group. Significant correlations were observed between changes in NE and P3 amplitude and between ucOC levels and ARs, highlighting links between molecular and neurocognitive outcomes. The study shows that both MIAE and MIAE+WBV can be effective approaches to improving neurocognitive and bone health in postmenopausal women, with MIAE+WBV being more effective than MIAE alone.