Influence of age and posture on spinal and corticospinal excitability

Baudry, Stéphane; Collignon, Sarah; Duchateau, Jacques

doi:10.1016/j.exger.2015.06.006

Cited by 50 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…The modulation in EMG suppression between postural challenging and non-challenging contexts observed in the current study is consistent with the literature reporting a decrease in intracortical inhibition and an increase in cortical excitability with an increase in postural task difficulty (Tokuno et al, 2009;Obata et al, 2014;Papegaaij et al, 2014b;Baudry et al, 2015). We found that the modulation was not correlated with motor performance, but it was correlated with the CoP position in relation to the maximum forward lean.…”

Section: Postural Challenging and Non-challenging Contextsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…With respect to postural control, previous studies have compared contractions during sitting vs. standing to investigate the influence of contraction aim on corticospinal measures (Soto et al, 2006;Obata et al, 2014;Baudry et al, 2015;Ackermann et al, 1991;Lavoie et al, 1995). However, this method has the limitation that not only contraction aim, but also posture and postural challenge are altered.…”

Section: Postural Challenging and Non-challenging Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When healthy adults stood on a rigid surface and then on foam, this increase in postural challenge resulted in a decrease in SICI in old but not in young adults' tibialis anterior muscle (Papegaaij et al, 2014b). However, this age by condition interaction was not present in normal standing, a relatively easy postural task (Papegaaij et al, submitted for publication;Baudry et al, 2015). Therefore, it is unclear if the modulation between a stable and unstable condition in old adults reflects a different motor control strategy or different relative task difficulty (i.e., the same task being more difficult for old than young adults).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Postural challenge affects motor cortical activity in young and old adults

Papegaaij

Taube

Keeken

et al. 2016

Experimental Gerontology

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When humans voluntarily activate a muscle, intracortical inhibition decreases. Such a decrease also occurs in the presence of a postural challenge and more so with increasing age. Here, we examined age-related changes in motor cortical activity during postural and non-postural contractions with varying levels of postural challenge. Fourteen young (age 22) and twelve old adults (age 70) performed three conditions: (1) voluntary contraction of the soleus muscle in sitting and (2) leaning forward while standing with and (3) without being supported. Subthreshold transcranial magnetic stimulation was applied to the soleus motor area suppressing ongoing EMG, as an index of motor cortical activity. The area of EMG suppression was~60% smaller (p b 0.05) in unsupported vs. supported leaning and sitting, with no difference between these latter two conditions (p N 0.05). Even though in absolute terms young compared with old adults leaned farther (p = 0.018), there was no age effect or an age by condition interaction in EMG suppression. Leaning closer to the maximum without support correlated with less EMG suppression (rho = −0.44, p = 0.034). We conclude that the critical factor in modulating motor cortical activity was postural challenge and not contraction aim or posture. Age did not affect the motor control strategy as quantified by the modulation of motor cortical activity, but the modulation appeared at a lower task difficulty with increasing age.

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Section: Postural Challenging and Non-challenging Contextsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Postural Challenging and Non-challenging Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Postural challenge affects motor cortical activity in young and old adults

Papegaaij

Taube

Keeken

et al. 2016

Experimental Gerontology

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“…Comparisons between these conditions were feasible because background soleus and tibialis anterior EMG activity was similar between conditions. The results indicated a progressive increase in the MEP amplitude with age during submaximal isometric contractions and during upright standing, and an upward shift of MEP amplitude when going from seated to standing for both age groups (2). The increase in the MEP amplitude with aging was accompanied by a decrease in the duration of the silent period that followed the MEP, when normalized to the MEP amplitude (19).…”

Section: Supraspinal Inputs Onto Soleus Motor Neurons During Upright mentioning

confidence: 88%

“…In this latter condition, the force produced by the ankle plantar flexor muscles was adjusted to obtain similar soleus and tibialis anterior (antagonist muscle) EMG activity as that during upright standing (2). Forty subjects aged between 19 and 76 yrs were tested in these two experimental conditions.…”

Section: Group Ia Afferent Input Onto Soleus Spinal Motor Neurons Durmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aging Changes the Contribution of Spinal and Corticospinal Pathways to Control Balance

Baudry

2016

Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews

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BAUDRY, S. Aging changes the contribution of spinal and corticospinal pathways to control balance. Exerc. Sport Sci. Rev., Vol. 44, No. 3, pp. 104-109, 2016. The maintenance of balance in an upright posture involves the modulation of the spinal and descending pathways converging onto the motor neurons that innervate the ankle plantar flexor muscles. The present article examines the hypothesis of an age-associated change in the respective contributions of spinal and corticospinal pathways to adjust the soleus muscle activity when standing.

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Age-Related Changes in the Neural Control of Standing Balance

Papegaaij

Hortobágyi

2017

Locomotion and Posture in Older Adults

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Controlling body sway while standing is an active process involving lower as well as higher neural centers. This chapter examines how the central nervous system controls undisturbed standing balance and summarizes the current knowledge concerning the effects of task difficulty and old age on postural control of standing. There is an age-related reorganization of neural control of standing, with decreased efficacy of Ia afferents to activate spinal motor neurons, increased cortical activation and corticospinal excitability, and reduced intracortical inhibition. Age does not affect the motor control strategy of reducing intracortical inhibition with increasing postural challenge. However, the threshold for down-modulation decreases with aging. It thus seems that motor cortical involvement in the control of standing balance becomes more prominent with age and postural task difficulty. Future studies will determine if it is beneficial and necessary through interventions to reduce the cortical involvement in the control of standing balance in healthy old adults especially if this involvement should increase in old adults with a history of falls.

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Influence of age and posture on spinal and corticospinal excitability

Cited by 50 publications

References 43 publications

Postural challenge affects motor cortical activity in young and old adults

Postural challenge affects motor cortical activity in young and old adults

Aging Changes the Contribution of Spinal and Corticospinal Pathways to Control Balance

Age-Related Changes in the Neural Control of Standing Balance

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