The effect of sensorimotor activation on functional connectivity mapping with MRI

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Functional Neuroimaging

Background:

• Functional connectivity, assessed via blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) MRI signal correlations, indicates communication between brain regions.
• Task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is used to study brain activity during specific tasks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how sensorimotor brain activity affects functional connectivity indices.
• To examine the impact of finger motion tasks on functional connectivity in the motor cortex.

Main Methods:

• A block-design fMRI study was employed to identify activated regions during sequential finger motion.
• Functional connectivity was measured at rest and during continuous finger motion using interregional correlations.
• Connectivity indices were calculated within and between activated regions of interest and a control region.

Main Results:

• Continuous motor tasks did not significantly alter functional connectivity within or between task-activated regions compared to rest.
• A trend indicated a slight reduction in connectivity indices during the motor task.
• Connectivity in non-activated control regions remained unchanged during task performance.

Conclusions:

• Neuronal recruitment for motor tasks may moderately decrease hemodynamic coupling within and between motor system regions.
• Functional connectivity in the studied motor system is relatively robust to task-related activity changes.