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Remote effects on corticospinal excitability during motor execution and motor imagery
Fuka Shironouchi1, Chiaki Ohtaka1, Nobuaki Mizuguchi2
1Faculty of Human Life and Environment, Nara Women's University, Nara City, Japan.
Neuroscience Letters
|May 25, 2019
Summary
Motor execution and imagery of foot movements impact hand muscle corticospinal excitability. The remote effect on corticospinal excitability differs between motor execution versus imagery and between ipsilateral and contralateral limb tasks.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Motor Control
- Human Physiology
Background:
- The corticospinal system facilitates voluntary movement.
- Remote effects describe how activity in one limb influences neural excitability in the contralateral or ipsilateral limb.
- Understanding these remote effects is crucial for motor rehabilitation and understanding neural plasticity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the remote effects on corticospinal excitability of hand muscles during motor execution and motor imagery of foot movements.
- To compare these effects between motor execution and motor imagery conditions.
- To examine differences based on ipsilateral versus contralateral limb involvement.
Main Methods:
- Fifteen right-handed subjects participated.
- Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded from hand muscles (first dorsal interosseous) using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).
- Subjects performed tasks involving left or right foot plantar flexion under motor execution (ME) and motor imagery (MI) conditions, including control, ipsilateral, and contralateral tasks.
Main Results:
- MEP amplitudes were significantly larger during motor execution compared to motor imagery, regardless of hand or task.
- MEP amplitudes were largest during contralateral tasks, irrespective of condition or hand.
- MEP amplitudes showed significant correlations between motor execution and motor imagery conditions for both hands.
Conclusions:
- The magnitude of remote effects on corticospinal excitability of hand muscles varies between motor execution and motor imagery.
- These remote effects are also modulated by whether the task involves ipsilateral or contralateral limb activation during foot plantar flexion.
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