Abstract

After spinal cord injury (SCI), reorganization processes and changes in brain connectivity occur. Besides the sensorimotor cortex, the subcortical areas are strongly involved in motion and executive control. This exploratory study focusses on the cerebellum and vermis. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed. Between-group differences were computed using analysis of covariance and post-hoc tests for the seed-based connectivity measure with vermis and cerebellum as regions of interest. Twenty participants with complete SCI (five subacute SCI, 15 with chronic SCI) and 14 healthy controls (HC) were included. Functional connectivity (FC) was lower in all subjects with SCI compared with HC in vermis IX, right superior frontal gyrus (pFDR = 0.008) and right lateral occipital cortex (pFDR = 0.036). In addition, functional connectivity was lower in participants with chronic SCI compared with subacute SCI in bilateral cerebellar crus I, left precentral- and middle frontal gyrus (pFDR = 0.001). Furthermore, higher amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) was found in the left thalamus in individuals with subacute SCI (pFDR = 0.002). Reduced FC in SCI indicates adaptation with associated deficit in sensory and motor function. The increased ALFF in subacute SCI might reflect reorganization processes in the subacute phase.

Details

Title
Functional connectivity and amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations changes in people with complete subacute and chronic spinal cord injury
Author
Vallesi, Vanessa 1 ; Richter, Johannes K. 2 ; Hunkeler, Nadine 1 ; Abramovic, Mihael 1 ; Hashagen, Claus 1 ; Christiaanse, Ernst 3 ; Shetty, Ganesh 1 ; Verma, Rajeev K. 1 ; Berger, Markus 1 ; Frotzler, Angela 4 ; Eisenlohr, Heidrun 1 ; Eriks-Hoogland, Inge 5 ; Scheel-Sailer, Anke 6 ; Michels, Lars 7 ; Wyss, Patrik O. 1 

 Swiss Paraplegic Centre, Department of Radiology, Nottwil, Switzerland (GRID:grid.419769.4) (ISNI:0000 0004 0627 6016) 
 Swiss Paraplegic Centre, Department of Radiology, Nottwil, Switzerland (GRID:grid.419769.4) (ISNI:0000 0004 0627 6016); University Hospital of Bern, Inselspital, University of Bern, Department of Diagnostic, Interventional, and Pediatric Radiology, Bern, Switzerland (GRID:grid.5734.5) (ISNI:0000 0001 0726 5157) 
 Swiss Paraplegic Centre, Department of Radiology, Nottwil, Switzerland (GRID:grid.419769.4) (ISNI:0000 0004 0627 6016); University Medical Center Utrecht, Division Imaging and Oncology, Image Sciences Institute, Utrecht, the Netherlands (GRID:grid.7692.a) (ISNI:0000000090126352) 
 ETH Zurich, Digital Trial Intervention Platform, Zurich, Switzerland (GRID:grid.5801.c) (ISNI:0000 0001 2156 2780); Swiss Paraplegic Centre, Clinical Trial Unit, Nottwil, Switzerland (GRID:grid.419769.4) (ISNI:0000 0004 0627 6016) 
 Swiss Paraplegic Centre, Outpatient Care Unit, Nottwil, Switzerland (GRID:grid.419769.4) (ISNI:0000 0004 0627 6016) 
 Swiss Paraplegic Centre, Department of Paraplegia, Rehabilitation and Quality Management, Nottwil, Switzerland (GRID:grid.419769.4) (ISNI:0000 0004 0627 6016) 
 University Hospital Zurich, Department of Neuroradiology, Zurich, Switzerland (GRID:grid.412004.3) (ISNI:0000 0004 0478 9977); Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland (GRID:grid.7400.3) (ISNI:0000 0004 1937 0650) 
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2745498816
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2022. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.