The Plasticity of Brain Gray Matter and White Matter following Lower Limb Amputation

Accumulating evidence has indicated that amputation induces functional reorganization in the sensory and motor cortices. However, the extent of structural changes after lower limb amputation in patients without phantom pain remains uncertain. We studied 17 adult patients with right lower limb amputa...

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Main Authors:	Jiang, Guangyao, Yin, Xuntao, Li, Chuanming, Li, Lei, Zhao, Lu, Evans, Alan C., Jiang, Tianzi, Wu, Jixiang, Wang, Jian
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2015
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4637496/

id	pubmed-4637496
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-46374962015-11-19 The Plasticity of Brain Gray Matter and White Matter following Lower Limb Amputation Jiang, Guangyao Yin, Xuntao Li, Chuanming Li, Lei Zhao, Lu Evans, Alan C. Jiang, Tianzi Wu, Jixiang Wang, Jian Research Article Accumulating evidence has indicated that amputation induces functional reorganization in the sensory and motor cortices. However, the extent of structural changes after lower limb amputation in patients without phantom pain remains uncertain. We studied 17 adult patients with right lower limb amputation and 18 healthy control subjects using T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging. Cortical thickness and fractional anisotropy (FA) of white matter (WM) were investigated. In amputees, a thinning trend was seen in the left premotor cortex (PMC). Smaller clusters were also noted in the visual-to-motor regions. In addition, the amputees also exhibited a decreased FA in the right superior corona radiata and WM regions underlying the right temporal lobe and left PMC. Fiber tractography from these WM regions showed microstructural changes in the commissural fibers connecting the bilateral premotor cortices, compatible with the hypothesis that amputation can lead to a change in interhemispheric interactions. Finally, the lower limb amputees also displayed significant FA reduction in the right inferior frontooccipital fasciculus, which is negatively correlated with the time since amputation. In conclusion, our findings indicate that the amputation of lower limb could induce changes in the cortical representation of the missing limb and the underlying WM connections. Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2015 2015-10-25 /pmc/articles/PMC4637496/ /pubmed/26587289 http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/823185 Text en Copyright © 2015 Guangyao Jiang et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Jiang, Guangyao Yin, Xuntao Li, Chuanming Li, Lei Zhao, Lu Evans, Alan C. Jiang, Tianzi Wu, Jixiang Wang, Jian
spellingShingle	Jiang, Guangyao Yin, Xuntao Li, Chuanming Li, Lei Zhao, Lu Evans, Alan C. Jiang, Tianzi Wu, Jixiang Wang, Jian The Plasticity of Brain Gray Matter and White Matter following Lower Limb Amputation
author_facet	Jiang, Guangyao Yin, Xuntao Li, Chuanming Li, Lei Zhao, Lu Evans, Alan C. Jiang, Tianzi Wu, Jixiang Wang, Jian
author_sort	Jiang, Guangyao
title	The Plasticity of Brain Gray Matter and White Matter following Lower Limb Amputation
title_short	The Plasticity of Brain Gray Matter and White Matter following Lower Limb Amputation
title_full	The Plasticity of Brain Gray Matter and White Matter following Lower Limb Amputation
title_fullStr	The Plasticity of Brain Gray Matter and White Matter following Lower Limb Amputation
title_full_unstemmed	The Plasticity of Brain Gray Matter and White Matter following Lower Limb Amputation
title_sort	plasticity of brain gray matter and white matter following lower limb amputation
description	Accumulating evidence has indicated that amputation induces functional reorganization in the sensory and motor cortices. However, the extent of structural changes after lower limb amputation in patients without phantom pain remains uncertain. We studied 17 adult patients with right lower limb amputation and 18 healthy control subjects using T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging. Cortical thickness and fractional anisotropy (FA) of white matter (WM) were investigated. In amputees, a thinning trend was seen in the left premotor cortex (PMC). Smaller clusters were also noted in the visual-to-motor regions. In addition, the amputees also exhibited a decreased FA in the right superior corona radiata and WM regions underlying the right temporal lobe and left PMC. Fiber tractography from these WM regions showed microstructural changes in the commissural fibers connecting the bilateral premotor cortices, compatible with the hypothesis that amputation can lead to a change in interhemispheric interactions. Finally, the lower limb amputees also displayed significant FA reduction in the right inferior frontooccipital fasciculus, which is negatively correlated with the time since amputation. In conclusion, our findings indicate that the amputation of lower limb could induce changes in the cortical representation of the missing limb and the underlying WM connections.
publisher	Hindawi Publishing Corporation
publishDate	2015
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4637496/
_version_	1613499027337248768

The Plasticity of Brain Gray Matter and White Matter following Lower Limb Amputation

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