Abstract
While the structural integrity of the corticospinal tract (CST) has been shown to support motor performance after stroke, the neural correlates of within-session practice effects are not known. The purpose of this preliminary investigation was to examine the structural brain correlates of within-session practice effects on a functional motor task completed with the more impaired arm after stroke. Eleven individuals with mild motor impairment (mean age 57.0 ± 9.4 years, mean months post-stroke 37.0 ± 66.1, able to move ≥ 26 blocks on the Box and Blocks Test) due to left hemisphere stroke completed structural MRI and practiced a functional motor task that involved spooning beans from a start cup to three distal targets. Performance on the motor task improved with practice (p = 0.004), although response was variable. Baseline motor performance (Block 1) correlated with integrity of the CST (r = − 0.696) while within-session practice effects (change from Block 1 to Block 3) did not. Instead, practice effects correlated with degree of lesion to the superior longitudinal fasciculus (r = 0.606), a pathway that connects frontal and parietal brain regions previously shown to support motor learning. This difference between white matter tracts associated with baseline motor performance and within-session practice effects may have implications for understanding response to motor practice and the application of brain-focused intervention approaches aimed at improving hand function after stroke.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01 DC014664, T32 GM081740, K01 AG047926, F31 AG062057) and the American Heart Association (15SDG24970011).
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The protocol for this study was approved by the University of South Carolina Institutional Review Board and was in accordance with the ethical standards of the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its amendments. All participants provided written informed consent prior to study participation.
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Regan, E., Fridriksson, J., Schaefer, S.Y. et al. Neural correlates of within-session practice effects in mild motor impairment after stroke: a preliminary investigation. Exp Brain Res 239, 151–160 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-020-05964-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-020-05964-y