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. 2017 Mar;59(3):247-253.
doi: 10.1007/s00234-017-1796-0. Epub 2017 Feb 24.

Functional connectivity of motor cortical network in patients with brachial plexus avulsion injury after contralateral cervical nerve transfer: a resting-state fMRI study

Aihong Yu  1 , Shufeng Wang  2 , Xiaoguang Cheng  3 , Wei Liang  3 , Rongjie Bai  3 , Yunhao Xue  2 , Wenjun Li  2
Affiliations

Functional connectivity of motor cortical network in patients with brachial plexus avulsion injury after contralateral cervical nerve transfer: a resting-state fMRI study

Aihong Yu et al. Neuroradiology. 2017 Mar.

Abstract

Introduction: The purpose of this study is to assess the functional connectivity of the motor cortical network in patients with brachial plexus avulsion injury (BPAI) after contralateral C7 nerve transfer, using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI).

Methods: Twelve patients with total brachial plexus root avulsion underwent RS-fMRI after contralateral C7 nerve transfer. Seventeen healthy volunteers were also included in this fMRI study as controls. The hand motor seed regions were defined as region of interests in the bilateral hemispheres. The seed-based functional connectivity was calculated in all the subjects. Differences in functional connectivity of the motor cortical network between patients and healthy controls were compared.

Results: The inter-hemispheric functional connectivity of the M1 areas was increased in patients with BPAI compared with the controls. The inter-hemispheric functional connectivity between the supplementary motor areas was reduced bilaterally.

Conclusions: The resting-state inter-hemispheric functional connectivity of the bilateral M1 areas is altered in patients after contralateral C7 nerve transfer, suggesting a functional reorganization of cerebral cortex.

Keywords: Brachial plexus avulsion injury; Cerebral plasticity; Contralateral C7 nerve transfer; Functional connectivity; Resting state.

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Conflict of interest statement

Funding

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no: 81,271,558) and the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (Grant no: 7,132,061). The study was also funded by grants from the Beijing Bureau of 215 Program (No. 2013–3-033; 2009–02-03).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in the studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Functional connectivity map, healthy controls vs. patients. An ROI in the left-hand motor seed regions (a). An ROI in the right-hand motor seed regions (b). An ROI in the hand area contralateral to the injured side (c). An ROI in the hand area contralateral to the intact side (d). Cortical map showed significant functional connectivity between bilateral M1 areas and bilateral SMAs
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
An ROI in the hand area contralateral to the injured side (a). An ROI in the hand area contralateral to the intact side (b). Compared with healthy volunteers, patients showed an increase in inter-hemispheric functional connectivity of the M1 areas in the resting-state fMRI and reduced functional connectivity between the two SMAs
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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