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Plasticity of the Superior and Middle Cerebellar Peduncles in Musicians Revealed by Quantitative Analysis of Volume and Number of Streamlines Based on Diffusion Tensor Tractography

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Abstract

This work was conducted to study the plasticity of superior (SCP) and middle (MCP) cerebellar peduncles in musicians. The cerebellum is well known to support several musically relevant motor, sensory and cognitive functions. Previous studies reported increased cerebellar volume and grey matter (GM) density in musicians. Here, we report on plasticity of white matter (WM) of the cerebellum. Our cohort included 10/10 gender and handedness-matched musicians and controls. Using diffusion tensor imaging, fibre tractography of SCP and MCP was performed. The fractional anisotropy (FA), number of streamlines and volume of streamlines of SCP/MCP were compared between groups. Automatic measurements of GM and WM volumes of the right/left cerebellar hemispheres were also compared. Musicians have significantly increased right SCP volume (p = 0.02) and number of streamlines (p = 0.001), right MCP volume (p = 0.004) and total WM volume of the right cerebellum (p = 0.003). There were no significant differences in right MCP number of streamlines, left SCP/MCP volume and number of streamlines, SCP/MCP FA values, GM volume of the right cerebellum and GM/WM volumes of the left cerebellum. We propose that increased volume and number of streamlines of the right cerebellar peduncles represent use-dependent structural adaptation to increased sensorimotor and cognitive functional demands on the musician’s cerebellum.

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The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Institute of Translational Medicine, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Ihssan A. Abdul-Kareem, Jamaan AlGhamdi, Faten M. Aldhafeeri & Vanessa Sluming

  2. Magnetic Resonance and Image Analysis Research Centre (MARIARC), University of Liverpool, Pembroke Place, Liverpool, L69 3GE, UK

    Ihssan A. Abdul-Kareem, Andrej Stancak, Jamaan AlGhamdi, Faten M. Aldhafeeri & Vanessa Sluming

  3. School of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Andrej Stancak

  4. Department of Imaging Science and Biomedical Engineering, School of Cancer and Imaging Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Laura M. Parkes & David Morris

  5. Department of Human Anatomy, School of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    May Al-Ameen

  6. School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Karl Embleton

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  1. Ihssan A. Abdul-Kareem
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Correspondence to Ihssan A. Abdul-Kareem.

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Abdul-Kareem, I.A., Stancak, A., Parkes, L.M. et al. Plasticity of the Superior and Middle Cerebellar Peduncles in Musicians Revealed by Quantitative Analysis of Volume and Number of Streamlines Based on Diffusion Tensor Tractography. Cerebellum 10, 611–623 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12311-011-0274-1

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