Work

Brain structure can mediate or moderate the relationship of behavior to brain function and transcriptome. A preliminary study

Year: 2022

Type: preprint

Abstract: Abnormalities in motor-control behavior, which have been with concussion and head acceleration events (HAE), can be quantified using virtual reality (VR) technologies. Motor-control behavior has been consistently mapped to the brain's somatomotor network (SM) using both structural (sMRI) and functional MRI (fMRI). However, no studies habe integrated HAE, motor-control behavior, sMRI and fMRI measures. Here, brain networks important for motor-control were hypothesized to show changes in tractography-based diffusion weighted imaging [difference in fractional anisotropy (dFA)] and resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) measures in collegiate American football players across the season, and that these measures would relate to VR-based motor-control. We firther tested if nine inflammation-related miRNAs were associated with behavior-structure-function variables. Using permutation-based mediation and moderation methods, we found that across-season dFA from the SM structural connectome (SM-dFA) mediated the relationship between across-season VR-based Sensory-motor Reactivity (dSR) and rs-fMRI SM fingerprint similarity (p = 0.007 and Teff = 47%). The interaction between dSR and SM-dFA also predicted (pF = 0.036, pbeta3 = 0.058) across-season levels of dmiRNA-30d through permutation-based moderation analysis. These results suggest (1) that motor-control is in a feedback relationship with brain structure and function, (2) behavior-structure-function can be connected to HAE, and (3) behavior-structure might predict molecular biology measures.

Source: arXiv (Cornell University)

DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2210.03195

Authors: Bari, Sumra, Vike, Nicole L, Stetsiv, Khrystyna, Blood, Anne J, Nauman, Eric A, Talavage, Thomas M, Slobounov, Semyon, Breiter, Hans C

Institutions: University of Cincinnati, Northwestern University, Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Pennsylvania State University

Language: English

Topic: Traumatic Brain Injury Research

Subfield: Epidemiology

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State University, National Institutes of Health

OpenAlex ID: W4320085746

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