Sokolov Arseny A, Erb Michael, Grodd Wolfgang, Tatagiba Marcos S, Frackowiak Richard S J, Pavlova Marina A
Département des Neurosciences Cliniques, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland; Department of Neurosurgery, University of Tübingen Medical School, Tübingen, Germany.
Department of Biomedical Magnetic Resonance, University of Tübingen Medical School, Tübingen, Germany.
Cortex. 2014 Oct;59:146-52. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2014.05.012. Epub 2014 Jun 12.
Visual perception of body motion is vital for everyday activities such as social interaction, motor learning or car driving. Tumors to the left lateral cerebellum impair visual perception of body motion. However, compensatory potential after cerebellar damage and underlying neural mechanisms remain unknown. In the present study, visual sensitivity to point-light body motion was psychophysically assessed in patient SL with dysplastic gangliocytoma (Lhermitte-Duclos disease) to the left cerebellum before and after neurosurgery, and in a group of healthy matched controls. Brain activity during processing of body motion was assessed by functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Alterations in underlying cerebro-cerebellar circuitry were studied by psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis. Visual sensitivity to body motion in patient SL before neurosurgery was substantially lower than in controls, with significant improvement after neurosurgery. Functional MRI in patient SL revealed a similar pattern of cerebellar activation during biological motion processing as in healthy participants, but located more medially, in the left cerebellar lobules III and IX. As in normalcy, PPI analysis showed cerebellar communication with a region in the superior temporal sulcus, but located more anteriorly. The findings demonstrate a potential for recovery of visual body motion processing after cerebellar damage, likely mediated by topographic shifts within the corresponding cerebro-cerebellar circuitry induced by cerebellar reorganization. The outcome is of importance for further understanding of cerebellar plasticity and neural circuits underpinning visual social cognition.
对身体运动的视觉感知对于诸如社交互动、运动学习或驾驶汽车等日常活动至关重要。左侧小脑的肿瘤会损害对身体运动的视觉感知。然而，小脑损伤后的代偿潜力及其潜在的神经机制仍然未知。在本研究中，对患有左侧小脑发育异常性神经节细胞瘤（Lhermitte-Duclos病）的患者SL在神经外科手术前后以及一组健康匹配对照中，通过心理物理学方法评估了对光点身体运动的视觉敏感性。通过功能磁共振成像（MRI）评估身体运动处理过程中的脑活动。通过心理生理交互作用（PPI）分析研究潜在的脑-小脑回路的改变。患者SL在神经外科手术前对身体运动的视觉敏感性明显低于对照组，神经外科手术后有显著改善。患者SL的功能MRI显示，在生物运动处理过程中，小脑激活模式与健康参与者相似，但位置更靠内侧，位于左侧小脑小叶III和IX。与正常情况一样，PPI分析显示小脑与颞上沟中的一个区域有联系，但位置更靠前。这些发现表明小脑损伤后视觉身体运动处理有恢复的潜力，可能是由小脑重组引起的相应脑-小脑回路内的地形变化介导的。这一结果对于进一步理解小脑可塑性和支撑视觉社会认知的神经回路具有重要意义。
