Functional MRI Study of Verbal Fluency in a Patient with Subcortical Laminar Heterotopia

AbstractRationale:Double cortex syndrome is a malformation in which there is a band of subcortical heterotopic grey matter separated from the cortex by white matter. The functional activity of the heterotopic neurons is unclear.Patient:A 13-year-old female was evaluated for seizures. The EEG showed bifrontal spike wave disturbance. Band heterotopia, in association with mild reduction of sulcation of the cerebral hemispheres, was found on MRI. Psychological assessment indicated the presence of variable cognitive abilities, with verbal IQ [82] generally better than nonverbal IQ [59], and specific difficulties in language comprehension and mathematics.Method:Functional MRI was used to localize the areas of language and motor activation. The language activation paradigm was a visual verb generation task with a visual fixation baseline. The motor paradigm consisted of alternating blocks of sequential finger tapping and rest. Coronal functional and anatomical images were obtained.Results:The motor paradigm produced activation of the primary motor cortex, the band heterotopia and the supplementary motor cortex. The language paradigm produced activation of the left inferior frontal gyrus and left supplementary motor area, but not of the band heterotopia.Conclusions:The activation of heterotopic grey matter during a motor task demonstrates a hemodynamic association with motor activity and suggests that this tissue may be functional. Such association was not seen with the language task. We speculate that later maturing functions such as language are restricted in their development to the normal situated superficial cortex in our patient.

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MRI correlates of clinical disability and hand-motor performance in multiple sclerosis phenotypes

Multiple Sclerosis Journal ◽

10.1177/1352458520958356 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 135245852095835

Author(s):

Claudio Cordani ◽

Milagros Hidalgo de la Cruz ◽

Alessandro Meani ◽

Paola Valsasina ◽

Federica Esposito ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Multiple Sclerosis ◽

Motor Cortex ◽

Functional Mri ◽

Structural Damage ◽

Primary Motor Cortex ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Hand Movement ◽

Motor Impairment ◽

Left Hand ◽

Mri Scans

Background: Hand-motor impairment affects a large proportion of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients; however, its substrates are still poorly understood. Objectives: To investigate the association between global disability, hand-motor impairment, and alterations in motor-relevant structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) networks in MS patients with different clinical phenotypes. Methods: One hundred thirty-four healthy controls (HC) and 364 MS patients (250 relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) and 114 progressive MS (PMS)) underwent Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) rating, nine-hole peg test (9HPT), and electronic finger tapping rate (EFTR). Structural and resting state (RS) functional MRI scans were used to perform a source-based morphometry on gray matter (GM) components, to analyze white matter (WM) tract diffusivity indices and to perform a RS seed-based approach from the primary motor cortex involved in hand movement (hand-motor cortex). Random forest analyses identified the predictors of clinical impairment. Result: In RRMS, global measures of atrophy and lesions together with measures of structural damage of motor-related regions predicted EDSS (out-of-bag (OOB)- R2 = 0.19, p-range = <0.001–0.04), z9HPT (right: OOB- R2 = 0.14; left: OOB- R2 = 0.24, p-range = <0.001–0.03). No RS functional connectivity (FC) abnormalities were identified in RRMS models. In PMS, cerebellar and sensorimotor regions atrophy, cerebellar peduncles integrity and increased RS FC between left hand-motor cortex and right inferior frontal gyrus predicted EDSS (OBB- R2 = 0.16, p-range = 0.02–0.04). Conclusion: In RRMS, only measures of structural damage contribute to explain motor impairment, whereas both structural and functional MRI measures predict clinical disability in PMS. A multiparametric MRI approach could be relevant to investigate hand-motor impairment in different MS phenotypes.

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Abstract TP441: Neurovascular Coupling is Impaired in Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy

Stroke ◽

10.1161/str.44.suppl_1.atp441 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 44 (suppl_1) ◽

Author(s):

Stefano Peca ◽

Cheryl R McCreary ◽

Emily Donaldson ◽

Karla Sanchez ◽

Anna Charlton ◽

...

Keyword(s):

White Matter ◽

Motor Cortex ◽

Primary Motor Cortex ◽

White Matter Lesion ◽

Motor Task ◽

Neurovascular Coupling ◽

Occipital Lobe ◽

Amyloid Angiopathy ◽

Bold Response ◽

Cerebral Amyloid

Introduction: Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is marked by accumulation of vascular beta-amyloid which is toxic to smooth muscle cells. An animal study and a pilot study in humans suggest decreased vasodilation in CAA. We studied patients with CAA and matched controls to determine whether neurovascular coupling is impaired in CAA. Methods: Patients with CAA and controls underwent task-related fMRI with a visual task (viewing a flashing alternating checkerboard pattern) or a motor task (tapping the fingers of the dominant hand) using a block design, and visual evoked potentials (VEPs). CAA patients were diagnosed by Boston criteria and had normal corrected visual acuity, no visual field deficits and no paresis of the dominant arm. Controls were recruited by community advertising and were matched by gender and age (±5 years) to CAA cases. Results: Eighteen CAA patients (12 M, 6F; 72±7 yrs) and eighteen controls (12 M, 6F; 70±7 yrs) were studied. For the visual task, CAA patients had reduced activity in the occipital lobe (Figure) and lower amplitude of the BOLD response vs. controls (28% reduced, p=0.005). By contrast, for the motor task CAA patients had a similar response of the primary motor cortex vs. controls (9.6% reduced BOLD response, p=0.53). VEP P100 latencies and amplitudes did not differ between CAA and controls (p=0.49 and p=0.74). Lower visual cortex BOLD amplitudes were correlated with greater white matter lesion volumes in CAA (r=-0.66, p=0.003). Conclusions: Neurovascular coupling is impaired in the occipital lobe in CAA. BOLD signal amplitudes are reduced despite normal evoked potentials, suggesting impaired vasodilation. The association with white matter lesion volume raises the possibility that impaired vasodilation may be involved in the pathogenesis of these lesions. BOLD responses in the primary motor cortex in CAA were not reduced, likely reflecting the known posterior predominance of CAA with lesser involvement of the frontal lobe.

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Functional MRI connectivity of the primary motor cortex in functional dystonia patients

Journal of Neurology ◽

10.1007/s00415-021-10879-x ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Noemi Piramide ◽

Elisabetta Sarasso ◽

Aleksandra Tomic ◽

Elisa Canu ◽

Igor N. Petrovic ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Motor Cortex ◽

Functional Mri ◽

Primary Motor Cortex

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Motor cortex excitability and fatigue in multiple sclerosis: a transcranial magnetic stimulation study

Multiple Sclerosis Journal ◽

10.1191/1352458505ms1163oa ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 316-321 ◽

Cited By ~ 82

Author(s):

J Liepert ◽

D Mingers ◽

C Heesen ◽

T Bäumer ◽

C Weiller

Keyword(s):

Multiple Sclerosis ◽

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽

Motor Cortex ◽

Magnetic Stimulation ◽

Primary Motor Cortex ◽

Motor Task ◽

Time Interval ◽

Membrane Excitability ◽

Motor Cortex Excitability ◽

Fatigue Severity

We investigated electrophysiological correlates of fatigue in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was used to explore motor excitability in three groups of subjects: MS patients with fatigue (MS-F), MS patients without fatigue (MS-NF) and healthy control subjects. All participants had to perform a fatiguing hand-grip exercise. TMS was performed prior to and after the exercise. Prior to the motor task, MS-F patients had less inhibition in the primary motor cortex compared to both other groups. Postexercise, intracortical inhibition was still reduced in the MS-F patients compared to the MS-NF patients. In MS-F patients the postexercise time interval for normalization of the motor threshold was correlated with the fatigue severity. We conclude that MS patients with fatigue have an impairment of inhibitory circuits in their primary motor cortex. The results also indicate that fatigue severity is associated with an exercise-induced reduction of membrane excitability.

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Reproducibility of Functional MRI with EPI in the Primary Motor Cortex

NeuroImage ◽

10.1016/s1053-8119(18)31449-6 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. S616

Author(s):

A. Schreiber ◽

D. Jäger ◽

C. Oesterle ◽

M. Otte ◽

J. Hennig

Keyword(s):

Motor Cortex ◽

Functional Mri ◽

Primary Motor Cortex

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Functional MRI: Primary Motor Cortex Localization in Patients with Brain Tumors

Journal of Computer Assisted Tomography ◽

10.1097/00004728-199609000-00003 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 20 (5) ◽

pp. 702-708 ◽

Cited By ~ 52

Author(s):

Andrea Righini ◽

Oreste de Divitiis ◽

Anna Prinster ◽

Diego Spagnoli ◽

Ildebrando Appollonio ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Motor Cortex ◽

Brain Tumors ◽

Functional Mri ◽

Primary Motor Cortex

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Combined functional MRI and tractography to demonstrate the connectivity of the human primary motor cortex in vivo

NeuroImage ◽

10.1016/s1053-8119(03)00165-4 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 19 (4) ◽

pp. 1349-1360 ◽

Cited By ~ 229

Author(s):

Maxime Guye ◽

Geoffrey J.M Parker ◽

Mark Symms ◽

Philip Boulby ◽

Claudia A.M Wheeler-Kingshott ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Motor Cortex ◽

Functional Mri ◽

Primary Motor Cortex

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Corticocortical and thalamocortical responses of neurons in the monkey primary motor cortex and their relation to a trained motor task

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.1994.71.2.550 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 71 (2) ◽

pp. 550-560 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

H. Aizawa ◽

J. Tanji

Keyword(s):

Motor Cortex ◽

Primary Motor Cortex ◽

Motor Task ◽

Reaching Movements ◽

Response Latencies ◽

Implanted Electrodes ◽

Thalamic Stimulation ◽

Primary Sensory Cortex ◽

Activity Onset ◽

Stimulation Of

1. We studied the responsiveness of neurons in the primary motor cortex (MI) of monkeys (Macacafuscata) to electrical stimulation of the supplementary motor area (SMA), primary sensory cortex (SI), and the ventral subnucleus of the thalamus (VPLo) with chronically implanted electrodes. 2. All neurons examined in this study were characterized by their relation to a motor task performed by the animals. They responded to stimulation of the cortical or thalamic area with excitation from one area alone (n = 128) or from multiple areas (n = 84) of all combinations. In a majority of neurons, response latencies to both cortical and thalamic stimulation were within 5 ms. 3. A vast majority of neurons (80%) that were active during a preparatory period for forthcoming reaching movements were activated by SMA stimulation. They were activated only infrequently by SI or thalamic stimulation. 4. Movement-related neurons (active immediately before and during reaching movements) were activated by thalamic, SI, or SMA stimulation or by any combination of those stimuli. More than half of the movement-related neurons activated exclusively by either thalamic or SMA stimulation exhibited activity onset times earlier than those observed in the earliest muscles. By contrast, most movement-related neurons that responded only to SI stimulation were late in their activity onset. 5. These findings suggest that the SMA input to MI is important in developing a preparatory type of activity in MI, whereas the thalamus (VPLo) provides substantial inputs in movement execution. The roles played by inputs from SI and SMA in relation to motor execution are debatable and are discussed here with reference to previous reports.

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