Bao Qiyuan, Liu Qi, Wang Jun, Shen Yuhui, Zhang Weibin
Department of Orthopaedics, Shanghai Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Department of Orthopaedics, Shanghai Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedics, Shanghai, China.
Neural Plast. 2021 Feb 11;2021:6689476. doi: 10.1155/2021/6689476. eCollection 2021.
Skilled sensorimotor deficit is an unsolved problem of peripheral nerve injury (PNI) led by limb trauma or malignancies, despite the improvements in surgical techniques of peripheral nerve anastomosis. It is now accepted that successful functional recovery of PNI relies tremendously on the multilevel neural plasticity from the muscle to the brain. However, animal models that recapitulate these processes are still lacking. In this report, we developed a rat model of PNI to longitudinally assess peripheral muscle reinnervation and brain functional reorganization using noninvasive imaging technology. Based on such model, we compared the longitudinal changes of the rat forepaw intrinsic muscle volume and the seed-based functional connectivity of the sensorimotor cortex after nerve repair. We found that the improvement of skilled limb function and the recovery of paw intrinsic muscle following nerve regeneration are incomplete, which correlated with the functional connectivity between the primary motor cortex and dorsal striatum. Our results were highly relevant to the clinical observations and provided a framework for future investigations that aim to study the peripheral central sensorimotor circuitry underlying skilled limb function recovery after PNI.
尽管周围神经吻合术的外科技术有所改进，但熟练的感觉运动功能障碍仍是由肢体创伤或恶性肿瘤导致的周围神经损伤（PNI）的一个未解决问题。现在人们认识到，PNI的成功功能恢复极大地依赖于从肌肉到大脑的多级神经可塑性。然而，仍缺乏能够重现这些过程的动物模型。在本报告中，我们开发了一种PNI大鼠模型，以使用非侵入性成像技术纵向评估周围肌肉再支配和脑功能重组。基于该模型，我们比较了神经修复后大鼠前爪固有肌体积的纵向变化以及感觉运动皮层基于种子点的功能连接性。我们发现，神经再生后熟练肢体功能的改善和爪固有肌的恢复并不完全，这与初级运动皮层和背侧纹状体之间的功能连接性相关。我们的结果与临床观察高度相关，并为未来旨在研究PNI后熟练肢体功能恢复背后的外周-中枢感觉运动回路的研究提供了一个框架。
