Department of Anatomy, Korea University College of Medicine, 126-1 Anam-dong 5-ga, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, 136-705, South Korea.
Cerebellum. 2012 Dec;11(4):925-30. doi: 10.1007/s12311-012-0366-6.
The cerebellum is associated with balance control and coordination, which might be important for gliding on smooth ice at high speeds. A number of case studies have shown that cerebellar damage induces impaired balance and coordination. As a positive model, therefore, we investigated whether plastic changes in the volumes of cerebellar subregions occur in short-track speed skating players who must have extraordinary abilities of balance and coordination, using three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging volumetry. The manual tracing was performed and the volumes of cerebellar hemisphere and vermian lobules were compared between short-track speed skating players (n=16) and matched healthy controls (n=18). We found larger right cerebellar hemisphere volume and vermian lobules VI-VII (declive, folium, and tuber) in short-track speed skating players in comparison with the matched controls. The finding suggests that the specialized abilities of balance and coordination are associated with structural plasticity of the right hemisphere of cerebellum and vermian VI-VII and these regions play an essential role in balance and coordination.
小脑与平衡控制和协调有关，这对于在高速光滑冰面上滑行可能很重要。一些案例研究表明，小脑损伤会导致平衡和协调能力受损。因此，作为一个积极的模型，我们使用三维磁共振成像体绘制技术研究了短道速滑运动员的小脑分区体积是否会发生变化，这些运动员必须具有出色的平衡和协调能力。我们对小脑半球和蚓部小叶的体积进行了手动追踪，并将短道速滑运动员（n=16）与匹配的健康对照组（n=18）进行了比较。与匹配的对照组相比，短道速滑运动员的右侧小脑半球体积和蚓部小叶 VI-VII（下降部、舌叶和结节）更大。这一发现表明，平衡和协调的特殊能力与小脑右半球和蚓部 VI-VII 的结构可塑性有关，这些区域在平衡和协调中发挥着重要作用。
