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Pyramidal tract lesions and movement-associated cortical recruitment in patients with MS.
- Source :
-
NeuroImage [Neuroimage] 2004 Sep; Vol. 23 (1), pp. 141-7. - Publication Year :
- 2004
-
Abstract
- Cortical functional changes, with the potential to limit the functional consequences of tissue injury, have been shown in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). In this study, we assessed the influence of MS-related tissue damage of the brain portion of the left pyramidal tract on the corresponding movement-associated patterns of cortical recruitment in a large sample of MS patients when performing a simple motor task with their fully normal functioning right upper limbs. We investigated 76 right-handed patients with definite MS. In each subject, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was acquired during the performance of a simple motor task with the dominant, right upper limb. During the same session, dual-echo, magnetization transfer (MT) and diffusion tensor (DT) MRI sequences were also obtained to quantify the extent and the severity of pyramidal tract damage. Lesions along the left pyramidal tract were identified in 43 patients. Compared to patients without pyramidal tract lesions, patients with such lesions had more significant activations of the contralateral primary sensorimotor cortex (SMC), secondary sensorimotor cortex (SII), inferior central sulcus, and cingulate motor area (CMA). They also showed more significant activations of several regions of the ipsilateral hemisphere, including the primary SMC and the precuneus. In these patients, T2 lesion load of left pyramidal tract was correlated with the extent of activation of the contralateral primary SMC (r2 = 0.25, P < 0.0001), whereas no correlations were found between the extent of fMRI activations and the severity of intrinsic lesion damage, as well as with left pyramidal tract normal-appearing white matter damage. This study shows that, in patients with MS, following injury of the motor pathways, there is an increased recruitment of a widespread sensorimotor network, which is likely to contribute to limit the appearance of overt clinical deficits.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Aged
Brain Damage, Chronic pathology
Brain Mapping
Cerebral Cortex pathology
Cerebral Cortex physiopathology
Dominance, Cerebral physiology
Female
Gyrus Cinguli pathology
Gyrus Cinguli physiopathology
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Motor Cortex pathology
Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting pathology
Nerve Net pathology
Nerve Net physiopathology
Pyramidal Tracts pathology
Somatosensory Cortex pathology
Brain Damage, Chronic physiopathology
Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Motor Activity physiology
Motor Cortex physiopathology
Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting physiopathology
Pyramidal Tracts physiopathology
Recruitment, Neurophysiological physiology
Somatosensory Cortex physiopathology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1053-8119
- Volume :
- 23
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- NeuroImage
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 15325360
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.05.005