This study aimed to investigate whether aerobic exercise (AE) and AE combined with whole-body vibration (AE+WBV) exert distinct effects on neurocognitive outcomes and circulating myokines, and to furt Show more
This study aimed to investigate whether aerobic exercise (AE) and AE combined with whole-body vibration (AE+WBV) exert distinct effects on neurocognitive outcomes and circulating myokines, and to further explore the potential molecular mechanisms underlying exercise-induced neurocognitive changes. A total of 72 postmenopausal women were randomly assigned to an AE, AE+WBV, or control group. At baseline and after the 16-week intervention or control period, both behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) indices were assessed during a visuospatial working memory (WM) task, and serum myokine concentrations of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), irisin, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), osteocalcin (OC), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and IL-15 were measured. Reaction times, ERP P2 amplitudes, and P2 and P3 latencies remained unchanged postintervention. However, AE significantly improved accuracy rates (ARs) under the two-item WM condition and increased P3 amplitudes under both the two- and four-item conditions. AE+WBV produced broader improvements in both ARs and P3 amplitudes under the two- and four-item conditions. Regarding molecular outcomes, neither intervention affected IL-6 concentrations. In the AE group, BDNF and irisin levels increased significantly postintervention, whereas IL-15 levels decreased. In the AE+WBV group, IGF-1, irisin, and OC levels increased postintervention and IL-15 levels decreased. Changes in neurocognitive performance were significantly associated with BDNF and OC in the AE group, and changes in neurophysiological performance were significantly associated with IGF-1 and irisin in the AE+WBV group. Collectively, these findings suggest that AE and AE+WBV promote distinct myokine profiles and partially improve neurocognitive performance in postmenopausal women, with AE+WBV demonstrating stronger effects, likely mediated by different molecular pathways. Show less