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Interaction Between Hippocampus and Cerebellum Crus I in Sequence-Based but not Place-Based Navigation.

ABSTRACT: To examine the cerebellar contribution to human spatial navigation we used functional magnetic resonance imaging and virtual reality. Our findings show that the sensory-motor requirements of navigation induce activity in cerebellar lobules and cortical areas known to be involved in the motor loop and vestibular processing. By contrast, cognitive aspects of navigation mainly induce activity in a different cerebellar lobule (VIIA Crus I). Our results demonstrate a functional link between cerebellum and hippocampus in humans and identify specific functional circuits linking lobule VIIA Crus I of the cerebellum to medial parietal, medial prefrontal, and hippocampal cortices in nonmotor aspects of navigation. They further suggest that Crus I belongs to 2 nonmotor loops, involved in different strategies: place-based navigation is supported by coherent activity between left cerebellar lobule VIIA Crus I and medial parietal cortex along with right hippocampus activity, while sequence-based navigation is supported by coherent activity between right lobule VIIA Crus I, medial prefrontal cortex, and left hippocampus. These results highlight the prominent role of the human cerebellum in both motor and cognitive aspects of navigation, and specify the cortico-cerebellar circuits by which it acts depending on the requirements of the task.

SUBMITTER: Igloi K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4886832 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Spatial navigation is a cognitive skill critical for accomplishing daily goal-directed behavior in a complex environment; however, older adults exhibit marked decline in navigation performance with age. Neuroprotective interventions that enhance the functional integrity of navigation-linked brain regions, such as those in the medial temporal lobe memory system, may preserve spatial navigation performance in older adults. Importantly, a well-established body of literature suggests that cardiorespiratory fitness has measurable effects on neurobiological integrity in the medial temporal lobes, as well as in other brain areas implicated in spatial navigation, such as the precuneus and cerebellum. However, whether cardiorespiratory fitness modulates brain activity in these regions during navigation in older adults remains unknown. Thus, the primary objective of the current study was to examine cardiorespiratory fitness as a modulator of fMRI activity in navigation-linked brain regions in cognitively healthy older adults. To accomplish this objective, cognitively intact participants (N = 22, aged 60-80 years) underwent cardiorespiratory fitness testing to estimate maximal oxygen uptake ( V· O2max) and underwent whole-brain high-resolution fMRI while performing a virtual reality navigation task. Our older adult sample demonstrated significant fMRI signal in the right and left retrosplenial cortex, right precuneus, right and left inferior parietal cortex, right and left cerebellum lobule VIIa Crus I and II, right fusiform gyrus, right parahippocampal cortex, right lingual gyrus, and right hippocampus during encoding of a virtual environment. Most importantly, in women but not men (N = 16), cardiorespiratory fitness was positively associated with fMRI activity in the right cerebellum lobule VIIa Crus I and II, but not other navigation-linked brain areas. These findings suggest that the influence of cardiorespiratory fitness on brain function extends beyond the hippocampus, as observed in other work, to the cerebellum lobule VIIa Crus I and II, a component of the cerebellum that has recently been linked to cognition and more specifically, spatial processing.

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Interaction Between Hippocampus and Cerebellum Crus I in Sequence-Based but not Place-Based Navigation.

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