Service de Neurologie, Centre Hospitalier Regional d'Orleans, 14 Avenue de l'Hôpital, 45100 Orleans, France.
Institut Denis Poisson, Université d'Orléans Collegium Sciences et Techniques Bâtiment de Mathématiques, Rue de Chartress, B.P. 6759, CEDEX 2, 45067 Orleans, France.
Sensors (Basel). 2022 Jul 25;22(15):5542. doi: 10.3390/s22155542.
Force and effort are important components of a motor task that can impact rehabilitation effectiveness. However, few studies have evaluated the impact of these factors on cortical activation during gait. The purpose of the study was to investigate the relation between cortical activation and effort required during exoskeleton-mediated gait at different levels of physical assistance in healthy individuals. Twenty-four healthy participants walked 10 m with an exoskeleton that provided four levels of assistance: 100%, 50%, 0%, and 25% resistance. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to measure cerebral flow dynamics with a 20-channel (plus two reference channels) device that covered most cortical motor regions bilaterally. We measured changes in oxyhemoglobin (HbO) and deoxyhemoglobin (HbR). According to HbO levels, cortical activation only differed slightly between the assisted conditions and rest. In contrast, bilateral and widespread cortical activation occurred during the two unassisted conditions (somatosensory, somatosensory association, primary motor, premotor, and supplementary motor cortices). A similar pattern was seen for HbR levels, with a smaller number of significant channels than for HbO. These results confirmed the hypothesis that there is a relation between cortical activation and level of effort during gait. This finding should help to optimize neurological rehabilitation strategies to drive neuroplasticity.
力和功是运动任务的重要组成部分，会影响康复效果。但是，很少有研究评估这些因素对步态过程中皮质激活的影响。本研究旨在探讨健康个体在不同程度的外骨骼辅助下进行步态时，皮质激活与所需用力之间的关系。24 名健康参与者在提供 4 种辅助水平（100%、50%、0%和 25%阻力）的外骨骼辅助下行走 10 米。使用具有 20 个通道（外加 2 个参考通道）的设备进行功能近红外光谱（fNIRS）测量，以双侧覆盖大多数皮质运动区域来测量脑血流动力学变化。我们测量了氧合血红蛋白（HbO）和脱氧血红蛋白（HbR）的变化。根据 HbO 水平，辅助条件与休息之间的皮质激活差异很小。相比之下，在两个非辅助条件下（感觉、感觉运动联合、初级运动、运动前和辅助运动皮质）会发生双侧和广泛的皮质激活。HbR 水平也呈现出类似的模式，其显著通道数量少于 HbO。这些结果证实了这样一个假设，即在步态过程中，皮质激活与用力程度之间存在关系。这一发现有助于优化神经康复策略以促进神经可塑性。
