Temporal dynamics of white and grey matter plasticity during motor skill acquisition: a comparative diffusion \ntensor imaging and multiparametric mapping analysis
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Learning new motor skills relies on neural plasticity within motor and limbic systems. This study uniquely combined diffusion tensor imaging and multiparametric mapping MRI to detail these neuroplasticity processes. We recruited 18 healthy male participants who underwent 960 min of training on a computer-based motion game, while 14 were scanned without training. Diffusion tensor imaging, which quantifies tissue microstructure by measuring the capacity for, and directionality of, water diffusion, revealed mostly linear changes in white matter across the corticospinal-cerebellar-thalamo-hippocampal circuit. These changes related to performance and reflected different responses to upper- and lower-limb training in brain areas with known somatotopic representations. Conversely, quantitative MRI metrics, sensitive to myelination and iron content, demonstrated mostly quadratic changes in gray matter related to performance and reflecting somatotopic representations within the same brain areas. Furthermore, while myelin and iron-sensitive multiparametric mapping MRI was able to describe time lags between different cortical brain systems, diffusion tensor imaging detected time lags within the white matter of the motor systems. These findings suggest that motor skill learning involves distinct phases of white and gray matter plasticity across the sensorimotor network, with the unique combination of diffusion tensor imaging and multiparametric mapping MRI providing complementary insights into the underlying neuroplastic responses.
Language: English
Subfield: Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: Wellcome Trust, European Commission, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Medical Research Council, FP7 Ideas: European Research Council, HORIZON EUROPE European Research Council
Awards: G119964413, G1278211685, G1323383031, G1679778923, G2027012013, G2424121955, Non-invasive staining of tissue microstructure in temporal lobe epilepsy using in- vivo MRI, G2566020588, Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, G2955649169, G3207356259, IronSleep - Neurobildgebungs- und Schlafbiomarker für die Früherkennung und Verlaufskontrolle der Parkinson-Krankheit und Untersuchung der zugrundeliegenden Mechanismen, G329422177, G3337114174, NEURON-Verbund hMRTofScI: Entschlüsselung der pathophysiologischen Prozesse induziert durch eine Querschnittlähmung: Anwendung von MRT basierter in vivo und ex vivo Histologie, G393177772, G434337789, Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, G4760961572, G518112044, Understanding the mechanisms of atrophy associated with spinal cord injury: the application of MRI-based in vivo histology and ex vivo histology, G5581198352, NEURON-Verbund hMRIofSCI: Entschlüsselung der pathophysiologischen Prozesse induziert durch eine Querschnittlähmung: Anwendung von MRT basierter in vivo und ex vivo Histologie, G5702163051, G574514749, G5771730111, Core support for the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging., G5882669802, G6004913796, G604397192, G6265207165, G6512545055, G6536710286, Ein umfassendes mikrostrukturelles Connectom des menschlichen Gehirns (COMIC): Von langen Nervenfasern zu kurzen Assoziationsfasern, Antibodies against Nogo-A to enhance plasticity, regeneration and functional recovery after acute spinal cord injury, a multicenter European clinical proof of concept trial, G7765275075, Non-Invasive In-Vivo Histology in Health and Disease Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), G8532526476, G8546314794, G8775095999, G939948813
OpenAlex ID: W7006308903
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