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Exercise enhances hippocampal-cortical ripple interactions in the human brain
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Exercise enhances hippocampal-cortical ripple interactions in the human brain

Araceli R Cárdenas, Juan F Ramíez-Villegas, Christopher K Kovach, Phillip E Gander, Rachel C Cole, Andrew J Grossbach, Hiroto Kawasaki, Jeremy D. W Greenlee, Matthew A Howard, Kirill V Nourski, …
Brain Communications, Vol.8(2), fcag041
03/06/2026
DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcag041
PMCID: PMC13098182
PMID: 42022290
url
https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcag041View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Physical exercise acutely improves hippocampus-dependent memory. Whereas animal studies have offered cellular- and synaptic-level accounts of these effects, human neuroimaging studies show that exercise improves hippocampal-cortical connectivity at the macroscale level. However, the neurophysiological basis of exercise-induced effects on hippocampal-cortical circuits remains unknown. Experimental evidence supports the idea that hippocampal sharp wave-ripples (SWR) play a critical role in learning and memory. Coupling between SWRs in the hippocampus and neocortex may reflect modulations in inter-regional connectivity required by mnemonic processes. Here, we examine the hypothesis that exercise modulates hippocampal-cortical ripple dynamics in the human brain. We performed intracranial recordings in epilepsy patients undergoing pre-surgical evaluation, during awake resting state, before and after an exercise session. Exercise increased ripple rate in the hippocampus. Exercise also enhanced the coupling and phase-synchrony between cortical ripples in the limbic and the default mode (DM) cortical networks and hippocampal SWRs. Further, a higher heart rate during exercise, reflecting exercise intensity, was related to a subsequent increase in resting state ripples across specific cortical networks, including the DM network. These results offer the first direct evidence that a single exercise session elicits changes in ripple events, a well-established neurophysiological marker of mnemonic processing. The characterisation and anatomical distribution of the described modulation points to hippocampal ripples as a potential mechanism by which exercise elicits its reported short-term effects in cognition. | No funding was received for this work. | Peer reviewed
 Exercise Hippocampus Intracranial electrophysiology Resting state Sharp wave ripples

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