Advisor(s)
Jane Allendorfer
Committee Member(s)
Adam Goodman
Christopher Ballmann
David Knight
Jane Allendorfer
William Willoughby
Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
6-18-2026
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Psychology
Abstract
Idiopathic generalized epilepsies (IGEs) comprise approximately 20% of all epilepsies and are characterized by seizures that spread through bilaterally distributed networks without a specific seizure onset zone and involves the whole brain. Pharmacologic treatment with antiseizure medications (ASMs) is the primary treatment for patients with IGEs, yet approximately 25% do not achieve seizure freedom. Moreover, ASMs fail to alleviate, and sometimes worsen, cognitive impairments in IGEs, with limited options currently available for cognitive rehabilitation. Physical exercise training has shown potential for improving cognitive impairments in neurological disorders, including epilepsy. However, previous studies have not conducted a multifaceted investigation of exercise training in epilepsy, particularly in IGEs, involving assessments of cognition, physiology, and neurobiology using multimodal neuroimaging methods such as arterial spin labeling (ASL) and single voxel spectroscopy (SVS). To fill this gap, this dissertation had three major aims. AIM 1 quantified baseline differences in cardiorespiratory fitness (i.e. VO2peak), cerebral blood flow (CBF), and brain metabolites between healthy individuals and patients with IGEs. AIM 2 investigated associations between baseline VO2peak, CBF, brain metabolites, and executive function in patients with IGEs. Finally, AIM 3 explored the impact of a six-week combined endurance and resistance training (CERT) intervention on VO2peak, CBF, brain metabolites, and executive function in patients with IGEs. Taken together, this work identified region-specific alterations in CBF and metabolites and elucidated interactions between cardiorespiratory fitness, cognition, and neurobiology in IGEs. Furthermore, it confirmed that a six-week CERT intervention is feasible and effective for enhancing cardiorespiratory fitness and executive function in this patient population.
Keywords
Cardiorespiratory fitness;Cerebral blood flow;Executive function;Exercise;Idiopathic generalized epilepsy;Metabolites
ProQuest ID
Recommended Citation
Lien, Yun, "Investigating The Impact Of Physical Exercise On Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Neurobiology, And Cognition In Idiopathic Generalized Epilepsies" (2026). ETDs from 2020-2029. 247.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-2020s/247
