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Cerebellar Motor Function in Spina Bifida Meningomyelocele

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Abstract

Spina bifida meningomyelocele (SBM), a congenital neurodevelopmental disorder, involves dysmorphology of the cerebellum, and its most obvious manifestations are motor deficits. This paper reviews cerebellar neuropathology and motor function across several motor systems well studied in SBM in relation to current models of cerebellar motor and timing function. Children and adults with SBM have widespread motor deficits in trunk, upper limbs, eyes, and speech articulators that are broadly congruent with those observed in adults with cerebellar lesions. The structure and function of the cerebellum are correlated with a range of motor functions. While motor learning is generally preserved in SBM, those motor functions requiring predictive signals and precise calibration of the temporal features of movement are impaired, resulting in deficits in smooth movement coordination as well as in the classical cerebellar triad of dysmetria, ataxia, and dysarthria. That motor function in individuals with SBM is disordered in a manner phenotypically similar to that in adult cerebellar lesions, and appears to involve similar deficits in predictive cerebellar motor control, suggests that age-based cerebellar motor plasticity is limited in individuals with this neurodevelopmental disorder.

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Acknowledgement

Preparation of this paper was supported in part by grant P01-HD35946 awarded from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NICHD or the National Institutes of Health. We thank Alexandra Basile for assistance with the preparation of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest statement

There are no financial or personal relationships that might bias this work (e.g., consultancies, stock ownership, equity interests, and patent-licensing arrangements). No conflicts of interest exist.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, Department of Psychology, The Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, ON, M5G 1X8, Canada

    Maureen Dennis

  2. Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Maureen Dennis

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Maureen Dennis

  4. Section of Pediatric Neurology, Children’s Hospital, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

    Michael S. Salman

  5. Developmental Pediatrics, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Jenifer Juranek

  6. Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Jack M. Fletcher

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  1. Maureen Dennis
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  4. Jack M. Fletcher
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Correspondence to Maureen Dennis.

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Dennis, M., Salman, M.S., Juranek, J. et al. Cerebellar Motor Function in Spina Bifida Meningomyelocele. Cerebellum 9, 484–498 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12311-010-0191-8

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