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Strategy-based reasoning training modulates cortical thickness and resting-state functional connectivity in adults with chronic traumatic brain injury.

ABSTRACT: INTRODUCTION:Prior studies have demonstrated training-induced changes in the healthy adult brain. Yet, it remains unclear how the injured brain responds to cognitive training months-to-years after injury. METHODS:Sixty individuals with chronic traumatic brain injury (TBI) were randomized into either strategy-based (N = 31) or knowledge-based (N = 29) training for 8 weeks. We measured cortical thickness and resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) before training, immediately posttraining, and 3 months posttraining. RESULTS:Relative to the knowledge-based training group, the cortical thickness of the strategy-based training group showed diverse temporal patterns of changes over multiple brain regions (pvertex < .05, pcluster < .05): (1) increases followed by decreases, (2) monotonic increases, and (3) monotonic decreases. However, network-based statistics (NBS) analysis of rsFC among these regions revealed that the strategy-based training group induced only monotonic increases in connectivity, relative to the knowledge-based training group (|Z| > 1.96, pNBS < 0.05). Complementing the rsFC results, the strategy-based training group yielded monotonic improvement in scores for the trail-making test (p < .05). Analyses of brain-behavior relationships revealed that improvement in trail-making scores were associated with training-induced changes in cortical thickness (pvertex < .05, pcluster < .05) and rsFC (pvertex < .05, pcluster < .005) within the strategy-based training group. CONCLUSIONS:These findings suggest that training-induced brain plasticity continues through chronic phases of TBI and that brain connectivity and cortical thickness may serve as markers of plasticity.

SUBMITTER: Han K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5434192 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Strategy-based reasoning training modulates cortical thickness and resting-state functional connectivity in adults with chronic traumatic brain injury.

Han Kihwan K Davis Rebecca A RA Chapman Sandra B SB Krawczyk Daniel C DC

Brain and behavior 20170410 5

<h4>Introduction</h4>Prior studies have demonstrated training-induced changes in the healthy adult brain. Yet, it remains unclear how the injured brain responds to cognitive training months-to-years after injury.<h4>Methods</h4>Sixty individuals with chronic traumatic brain injury (TBI) were randomized into either strategy-based (<i>N </i>= 31) or knowledge-based (<i>N </i>= 29) training for 8 weeks. We measured cortical thickness and resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) before training, ...[more]

PMID: 28523229

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Project description:Numerous studies have used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to characterize functional connectivity between cortical regions by analyzing correlations in blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signals in a resting state. However, to date, there have been only a handful of studies reporting resting state BOLD signals in white matter. Nonetheless, a growing number of reports has emerged in recent years suggesting white matter BOLD signals can be reliably detected, though their biophysical origins remain unclear. Moreover, recent studies have identified robust correlations in a resting state between signals from cortex and specific white matter tracts. In order to further validate and interpret these findings, we studied a non-human primate model to investigate resting-state connectivity patterns between parcellated cortical volumes and specific white matter bundles. Our results show that resting-state connectivity patterns between white and gray matter structures are not randomly distributed but share notable similarities with diffusion- and histology-derived anatomic connectivities. This suggests that resting-state BOLD correlations between white matter fiber tracts and the gray matter regions to which they connect are directly related to the anatomic arrangement and density of WM fibers. We also measured how different levels of baseline neural activity, induced by varying levels of anesthesia, modulate these patterns. As anesthesia levels were raised, we observed weakened correlation coefficients between specific white matter tracts and gray matter regions while key features of the connectivity pattern remained similar. Overall, results from this study provide further evidence that neural activity is detectable by BOLD fMRI in both gray and white matter throughout the resting brain. The combined use of gray and white matter functional connectivity could also offer refined full-scale functional parcellation of the entire brain to characterize its functional architecture.

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Dataset Information

Strategy-based reasoning training modulates cortical thickness and resting-state functional connectivity in adults with chronic traumatic brain injury.

Publications

Strategy-based reasoning training modulates cortical thickness and resting-state functional connectivity in adults with chronic traumatic brain injury.

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