Laterality Differences in Cerebellar–Motor Cortex Connectivity

Schlerf, John E.; Galea, Joseph M.; Spampinato, Danny; Celnik, Pablo

doi:10.1093/cercor/bht422

Cited by 63 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Alike a functional lateralization has been reported for the also cerebellum (Bernard et al 2014; Mattay et al 1998; Schlerf et al 2015), in accordance to our findings. Yet our analyses also point towards lateralization in connectivity beyond the motor domain.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

Basal ganglia and cerebellar interconnectivity within the human thalamus

Pelzer

Melzer

Timmermann³

et al. 2016

Brain Struct Funct

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Basal ganglia and the cerebellum are part of a densely interconnected network. While both subcortical structures process information in basically segregated loops that primarily interact in the neocortex, direct subcortical interaction has been recently confirmed by neuroanatomical studies using viral transneuronal tracers in non-human primate brains. The thalamus is thought to be the main relay station of both projection systems. Yet, our understanding of subcortical basal ganglia and cerebellar interconnectivity within the human thalamus is rather sparse, primarily due to limitation in the acquisition of in vivo tracing. Consequently, we strive to characterize projections of both systems and their potential overlap within the human thalamus by diffusion MRI and tractography. Our analysis revealed a decreasing anterior-to-posterior gradient for pallido-thalamic connections in: (1) the ventral-anterior thalamus, (2) the intralaminar nuclei, and (3) midline regions. Conversely, we found a decreasing posterior-to-anterior gradient for dentato-thalamic projections predominantly in: (1) the ventral-lateral and posterior nucleus; (2) dorsal parts of the intralaminar nuclei and the subparafascicular nucleus, and (3) the medioventral and lateral mediodorsal nucleus. A considerable overlap of connectivity pattern was apparent in intralaminar nuclei and midline regions. Notably, pallidal and cerebellar projections were both hemispherically lateralized to the left thalamus. While strikingly consistent with findings from transneuronal studies in non-human primates as well as with pre-existing anatomical studies on developmentally expressed markers or pathological human brains, our assessment provides distinctive connectional fingerprints that illustrate the anatomical substrate of integrated functional networks between basal ganglia and the cerebellum. Thereby, our findings furnish useful implications for cerebellar contributions to the clinical symptomatology of movement disorders.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00429-016-1223-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

Basal ganglia and cerebellar interconnectivity within the human thalamus

Pelzer

Melzer

Timmermann³

et al. 2016

Brain Struct Funct

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“…As we have previously shown in motor adaptation studies8954, we found that CB-M1 connectivity changed early in the (long and short) skill-learning groups only, and returned to baseline levels as training proceeded. Given that we controlled for M1 excitability modifications when assessing CBI (by adjusting TMS intensities) and the fact that M1 excitability changed similarly in all groups and in all the post-training time points, we interpreted the specific CBI findings as driven by cerebellar plasticity.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 86%

Temporal dynamics of cerebellar and motor cortex physiological processes during motor skill learning

Spampinato

Celnik²

2017

Sci Rep

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Learning motor tasks involves distinct physiological processes in the cerebellum (CB) and primary motor cortex (M1). Previous studies have shown that motor learning results in at least two important neurophysiological changes: modulation of cerebellar output mediated in-part by long-term depression of parallel fiber-Purkinje cell synapse and induction of long-term plasticity (LTP) in M1, leading to transient occlusion of additional LTP-like plasticity. However, little is known about the temporal dynamics of these two physiological mechanisms during motor skill learning. Here we use non-invasive brain stimulation to explore CB and M1 mechanisms during early and late motor skill learning in humans. We predicted that early skill acquisition would be proportional to cerebellar excitability (CBI) changes, whereas later stages of learning will result in M1 LTP-like plasticity modifications. We found that early, and not late into skill training, CBI changed. Whereas, occlusion of LTP-like plasticity over M1 occurred only during late, but not early training. These findings indicate a distinct temporal dissociation in the physiological role of the CB and M1 when learning a novel skill. Understanding the role and temporal dynamics of different brain regions during motor learning is critical to device optimal interventions to augment learning.

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“…Although the physiology of cerebellar TMS remains poorly understood, it is possible that stimulation results in the parallelfiber-mediated activation of PCs, which inhibit the DCN (Celnik, 2015). The reduced CBI closer to movement initiation in this study may therefore represent a decrease of inhibition from hand-or leg-affiliated PCs that activate hand-or leg-affiliated DN cells, respectively.…”

Section: Premovement Cbi Changes Versus Learning-induced Cbi Changesmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…First, we determined the brainstem motor threshold using a double cone coil (Magstim) over the inion. This is defined as the minimal intensity (to the nearest 5% of stimulator output) required to elicit five 50 v MEPs of the target muscle (Rossini et al, 2015). Second, we tested CBI by delivering a conditioning stimulus (CS) 3 cm lateral to the inion and 5 ms before a test stimulus ( A, Experiment 1 consisted of five behavioral blocks and three physiological measurements.…”

Section: Experiments 1: Cbi Changes Due To Visuomotor Adaptationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cerebellar–M1 Connectivity Changes Associated with Motor Learning Are Somatotopic Specific

2017

Self Cite

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One of the functions of the cerebellum in motor learning is to predict and account for systematic changes to the body or environment. This form of adaptive learning is mediated by plastic changes occurring within the cerebellar cortex. The strength of cerebellar-to-cerebral pathways for a given muscle may reflect aspects of cerebellum-dependent motor adaptation. These connections with motor cortex (M1) can be estimated as cerebellar inhibition (CBI): a conditioning pulse of transcranial magnetic stimulation delivered to the cerebellum before a test pulse over motor cortex. Previously, we have demonstrated that changes in CBI for a given muscle representation correlate with learning a motor adaptation task with the involved limb. However, the specificity of these effects is unknown. Here, we investigated whether CBI changes in humans are somatotopy specific and how they relate to motor adaptation. We found that learning a visuomotor rotation task with the right hand changed CBI, not only for the involved first dorsal interosseous of the right hand, but also for an uninvolved right leg muscle, the tibialis anterior, likely related to inter-effector transfer of learning. In two follow-up experiments, we investigated whether the preparation of a simple hand or leg movement would produce a somatotopy-specific modulation of CBI. We found that CBI changes only for the effector involved in the movement. These results indicate that learning-related changes in cerebellar-M1 connectivity reflect a somatotopy-specific interaction. Modulation of this pathway is also present in the context of interlimb transfer of learning.

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Laterality Differences in Cerebellar–Motor Cortex Connectivity

Cited by 63 publications

References 38 publications

Basal ganglia and cerebellar interconnectivity within the human thalamus

Basal ganglia and cerebellar interconnectivity within the human thalamus

Temporal dynamics of cerebellar and motor cortex physiological processes during motor skill learning

Cerebellar–M1 Connectivity Changes Associated with Motor Learning Are Somatotopic Specific

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