Selective sensory deafferentation induces structural and functional brain plasticity

Autor(es)

Casseb, Raphael F. ^{[1, 2, 3]} ; de Campos, Brunno M. ^[1] ; Martinez, Alberto R. M. ^[1] ; Castellano, Gabriela ^[2] ; Franca Junior, Marcondes C. ^[1]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Estadual Campinas, Dept Neurol, Neuroimaging Lab, BR-13083888 Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Estadual Campinas, Gleb Wataghin Phys Inst, Neurophys Grp, BR-13083859 Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Calgary, Seaman Family MR Res Ctr, Calgary, AB T2N 2T9 - Canada

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL; v. 21, 2019.
• Citações Web of Science: 0

Resumo

Sensory-motor integration models have been proposed aiming to explain how the brain uses sensory information to guide and check the planning and execution of movements. Sensory neuronopathy (SN) is a peculiar disease characterized by exclusive, severe and widespread sensory loss. It is a valuable condition to investigate how sensory deafferentation impacts brain organization. We thus recruited patients with clinical and electro-physiological criteria for SN to perform structural and functional MRI analyses. We investigated volumetric changes in gray matter (GM) using anatomical images; the microstructure of WM within segmented regions of interest (ROI), via diffusion images; and brain activation related to a finger tapping task. All significant results were related to the long disease duration subgroup of patients. Structural analysis showed hypertrophy of the caudate nucleus, whereas the diffusion study identified reduction of fractional anisotropy values in ROIs located around the thalamus and the striatum. We also found differences regarding finger-tapping activation in the posterior parietal regions and in the medial areas of the cerebellum. Our results stress the role of the caudate nucleus over the other basal ganglia in the sensory-motor integration models, and suggest an inhibitory function of a recently discovered tract between the thalamus and the striatum. Overall, our findings confirm plasticity in the adult brain and open new avenues to design neurorehabilitation strategies. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 14/15918-6 - Avaliação do padrão de ativação motora de pacientes com neuronopatias sensitivas utilizando fMRI e conectividade efetiva
• Beneficiário: Raphael Fernandes Casseb
• Linha de fomento: Bolsas no Brasil - Doutorado Direto
• Processo FAPESP: 13/01766-7 - Contribuição ao diagnóstico, à fisiopatologia e à terapêutica das neuronopatias sensitivas
• Beneficiário: Marcondes Cavalcante Franca Junior
• Linha de fomento: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Apoio a Jovens Pesquisadores