Dataset Information

Assessing cortical plasticity after spinal cord injury by using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging in awake adult mice.

ABSTRACT: Neural connectivity has recently been shown to be altered after spinal cord injury (SCI) not only in the spinal cord but also in the brain. However, to date, no studies have analyzed the functional alterations after SCI in various areas of the cerebral cortex over time. To examine the plasticity of the neural connectivity in the brain after SCI, we performed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) in awake adult mice pre- and post-SCI. After a complete thoracic SCI, the functional connectivity between the primary motor (MOp) and primary sensory (SSp) areas was significantly decreased during the chronic phase. In contrast, the connectivity between the MOp and motivation area was increased. Thus, impairments in sensory and motor connections after SCI led to a time-dependent compensatory upregulation of "motor functional motivation". Moreover, the functional connectivity between the SSp and pain-related areas, such as the caudoputamen (CP) and the anterior cingulate area (ACA), was strengthened during the chronic phase, thus suggesting that rs-fMRI can indicate the presence of neuropathic pain after SCI. Therefore, rs-fMRI is a useful tool for revealing the pathological changes that occur in the brain after SCI.

SUBMITTER: Matsubayashi K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6158265 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Assessing cortical plasticity after spinal cord injury by using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging in awake adult mice.

Matsubayashi Kohei K Nagoshi Narihito N Komaki Yuji Y Komaki Yuji Y Kojima Kota K Shinozaki Munehisa M Tsuji Osahiko O Iwanami Akio A Ishihara Ryosuke R Takata Norio N Matsumoto Morio M Mimura Masaru M Okano Hideyuki H Nakamura Masaya M

Scientific reports 20180926 1

Neural connectivity has recently been shown to be altered after spinal cord injury (SCI) not only in the spinal cord but also in the brain. However, to date, no studies have analyzed the functional alterations after SCI in various areas of the cerebral cortex over time. To examine the plasticity of the neural connectivity in the brain after SCI, we performed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) in awake adult mice pre- and post-SCI. After a complete thoracic SCI, the fun ...[more]

PMID: 30258091

Similar Datasets

Project description:The investigation of spontaneous fluctuations of the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal has recently been extended from the brain to the spinal cord, where it has stimulated interest from a clinical perspective. A number of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have demonstrated robust functional connectivity between the time series of BOLD fluctuations in bilateral dorsal horns and between those in bilateral ventral horns, in line with the functional neuroanatomy of the spinal cord. A necessary step prior to extension to clinical studies is assessing the reliability of such resting-state signals, which we aimed to do here in a group of 45 healthy young adults at the clinically prevalent field strength of 3T. When investigating connectivity in the entire cervical spinal cord, we observed fair to good reliability for dorsal-dorsal and ventral-ventral connectivity, whereas reliability was poor for within- and between-hemicord dorsal-ventral connectivity. Considering how prone spinal cord fMRI is to noise, we extensively investigated the impact of distinct noise sources and made two crucial observations: removal of physiological noise led to a reduction in functional connectivity strength and reliability - due to the removal of stable and participant-specific noise patterns - whereas removal of thermal noise considerably increased the detectability of functional connectivity without a clear influence on reliability. Finally, we also assessed connectivity within spinal cord segments and observed that while the pattern of connectivity was similar to that of whole cervical cord, reliability at the level of single segments was consistently poor. Taken together, our results demonstrate the presence of reliable resting-state functional connectivity in the human spinal cord even after thoroughly accounting for physiological and thermal noise, but at the same time urge caution if focal changes in connectivity (e.g. due to segmental lesions) are to be studied, especially in a longitudinal manner.

Dataset Information

Assessing cortical plasticity after spinal cord injury by using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging in awake adult mice.

Publications

Assessing cortical plasticity after spinal cord injury by using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging in awake adult mice.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets