Park In Sung, Lee Ye Na, Kwon Soonwook, Lee Nam Joon, Rhyu Im Joo
Department of Liberal Arts and Teaching Profession, Kyungil University, Gyeongsan, Korea.
Department of Anatomy, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Anat Cell Biol. 2015 Dec;48(4):262-7. doi: 10.5115/acb.2015.48.4.262. Epub 2015 Dec 21.
Recent neuroimaging studies indicate that learning a novel motor skill induces plastic changes in the brain structures of both gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) that are associated with a specific practice. We previously reported an increased volume of vermian lobules VI-VII (declive, folium, and tuber) in elite basketball athletes who require coordination for dribbling and shooting a ball, which awakened the central role of the cerebellum in motor coordination. However, the precise factor contributing to the increased volume was not determined. In the present study, we compared the volumes of the GM and WM in the sub-regions of the cerebellar vermis based on manual voxel analysis with the ImageJ program. We found significantly larger WM volumes of vermian lobules VI-VII (declive, folium, and tuber) in elite basketball athletes in response to long-term intensive motor learning. We suggest that the larger WM volumes of this region in elite basketball athletes represent a motor learning-induced plastic change, and that the WM of this region likely plays a critical role in coordination. This finding will contribute to gaining a deeper understanding of motor learning-evoked WM plasticity.
最近的神经影像学研究表明，学习一项新的运动技能会在灰质（GM）和白质（WM）的脑结构中引发与特定练习相关的可塑性变化。我们之前报道过，在需要运球和投篮协调能力的精英篮球运动员中，蚓部小叶VI-VII（斜坡、小叶和蚓结节）的体积增加，这凸显了小脑在运动协调中的核心作用。然而，导致体积增加的确切因素尚未确定。在本研究中，我们使用ImageJ程序基于手动体素分析比较了小脑蚓部亚区域的GM和WM体积。我们发现，长期高强度运动学习使精英篮球运动员蚓部小叶VI-VII（斜坡、小叶和蚓结节）的WM体积显著增大。我们认为，精英篮球运动员该区域较大的WM体积代表了运动学习诱导的可塑性变化，并且该区域的WM可能在协调中起关键作用。这一发现将有助于更深入地理解运动学习诱发的WM可塑性。
