Exercise is a potent trigger for both neurogenesis and vascular plasticity yet the underlying temporal dynamics are not known. We aimed to test whether a single 20-minute bout of aerobic exercise was sufficient to induce changes in cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) to carbon dioxide in young healthy adults using a dual-echo pulsed ASL sequence with a hypercapnia challenge. We show that age modulates the change in CVR following exercise, and strongly predicts baseline CVR, independent of resting physiology and fitness. Our findings motivate the further exploration of the role of age in exercise-induced vascular plasticity.
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