Dataset Information

Improving Motor Corticothalamic Communication After Stroke Using Real-Time fMRI Connectivity-Based Neurofeedback.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Two thirds of stroke survivors experience motor impairment resulting in long-term disability. The anatomical substrate is often the disruption of cortico-subcortical pathways. It has been proposed that reestablishment of cortico-subcortical communication relates to functional recovery.

Objective

In this study, we applied a novel training protocol to augment ipsilesional cortico-subcortical connectivity after stroke. Chronic stroke patients with severe motor impairment were provided online feedback of blood-oxygenation level dependent signal connectivity between cortical and subcortical regions critical for motor function using real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging neurofeedback.

Results

In this proof of principle study, 3 out of 4 patients learned to voluntarily modulate cortico-subcortical connectivity as intended.

Conclusions

Our results document for the first time the feasibility and safety for patients with chronic stroke and severe motor impairment to self-regulate and augment ipsilesional cortico-subcortical connectivity through neurofeedback using real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging.

SUBMITTER: Liew SL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4907885 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Improving Motor Corticothalamic Communication After Stroke Using Real-Time fMRI Connectivity-Based Neurofeedback.

Liew Sook-Lei SL Rana Mohit M Cornelsen Sonja S Fortunato de Barros Filho Marcos M Birbaumer Niels N Sitaram Ranganatha R Cohen Leonardo G LG Soekadar Surjo R SR

Neurorehabilitation and neural repair 20151214 7

<h4>Background</h4>Two thirds of stroke survivors experience motor impairment resulting in long-term disability. The anatomical substrate is often the disruption of cortico-subcortical pathways. It has been proposed that reestablishment of cortico-subcortical communication relates to functional recovery.<h4>Objective</h4>In this study, we applied a novel training protocol to augment ipsilesional cortico-subcortical connectivity after stroke. Chronic stroke patients with severe motor impairment w ...[more]

PMID: 26671217

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Project description:Neurofeedback (NFB) enables the voluntary regulation of brain activity, with promising applications to enhance and recover emotion and cognitive processes, and their underlying neurobiology. It remains unclear whether NFB can be used to aid and sustain complex emotions, with ecological validity implications. We provide a technical proof of concept of a novel real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rtfMRI) NFB procedure. Using rtfMRI-NFB, we enabled participants to voluntarily enhance their own neural activity while they experienced complex emotions. The rtfMRI-NFB software (FRIEND Engine) was adapted to provide a virtual environment as brain computer interface (BCI) and musical excerpts to induce two emotions (tenderness and anguish), aided by participants' preferred personalized strategies to maximize the intensity of these emotions. Eight participants from two experimental sites performed rtfMRI-NFB on two consecutive days in a counterbalanced design. On one day, rtfMRI-NFB was delivered to participants using a region of interest (ROI) method, while on the other day using a support vector machine (SVM) classifier. Our multimodal VR/NFB approach was technically feasible and robust as a method for real-time measurement of the neural correlates of complex emotional states and their voluntary modulation. Guided by the color changes of the virtual environment BCI during rtfMRI-NFB, participants successfully increased in real time, the activity of the septo-hypothalamic area and the amygdala during the ROI based rtfMRI-NFB, and successfully evoked distributed patterns of brain activity classified as tenderness and anguish during SVM-based rtfMRI-NFB. Offline fMRI analyses confirmed that during tenderness rtfMRI-NFB conditions, participants recruited the septo-hypothalamic area and other regions ascribed to social affiliative emotions (medial frontal / temporal pole and precuneus). During anguish rtfMRI-NFB conditions, participants recruited the amygdala and other dorsolateral prefrontal and additional regions associated with negative affect. These findings were robust and were demonstrable at the individual subject level, and were reflected in self-reported emotion intensity during rtfMRI-NFB, being observed with both ROI and SVM methods and across the two sites. Our multimodal VR/rtfMRI-NFB protocol provides an engaging tool for brain-based interventions to enhance emotional states in healthy subjects and may find applications in clinical conditions associated with anxiety, stress and impaired empathy among others.

Dataset Information

Improving Motor Corticothalamic Communication After Stroke Using Real-Time fMRI Connectivity-Based Neurofeedback.

Background

Objective

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Improving Motor Corticothalamic Communication After Stroke Using Real-Time fMRI Connectivity-Based Neurofeedback.

Similar Datasets

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