Lesion locations associated with persistent proprioceptive impairment in the upper limbs after stroke

Proprioceptive information allows humans to perform smooth coordinated movements by constantly updating one's mind with knowledge of the position of one's limbs in space. How this information is combined with other sensory modalities and centrally processed to form conscious perceptions of limb position remains relatively unknown. What has proven even more elusive is pinpointing the contribution of proprioception in cortical activity related to motion. This study addresses these gaps by examining electrocortical dynamics while participants performed an upper limb position matching task in two conditions, namely with proprioceptive feedback or with both visual and proprioceptive feedback. Specifically, we evaluated the reduction of the electroencephalographic power (desynchronization) in the μ frequency band (8–12 Hz), which is known to characterize the neural activation associated with motor control and behavior. We observed a stronger desynchronization in the left motor and somatosensory areas, contralateral to the moving limb while, parietal and occipital regions, identifying association and visual areas, respectively, exhibited a similar activation level in the two hemispheres. Pertaining to the influence of the two experimental conditions it affected only movement's offset, and precisely we found that when matching movements are performed relying only on proprioceptive information, a lower cortical activity is entailed. This effect was strongest in the visual and association areas, while there was a minor effect in the hand motor and somatosensory areas.

Section: Modulation Of the Difference Between Vp And P Condition Bymentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural correlates of proprioceptive upper limb position matching

Marini

Zenzeri

Pippo

et al. 2019

“…Lesions of the SMG and HG are known to lead to impairments in proprioceptive function (Findlater et al, , ; Kenzie et al, ). The SMG, as part of the parietal sensory association area, is an important region for integration of somatosensory information (Iwamura, ; Lynch, ; Pandya & Seltzer, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, it is not entirely surprising that damage to the tract communicating with the POCG-SMG was associated with poor proprioceptive performance in the present study. HG is involved in the frontoparietal network (Shinn, Baker, Cohen, & Ongur, 2013) and is known to contribute to the spatial localization of sound (Altmann et al, 2007;Zatorre & Penhune, 2001) but based on the results of Findlater et al (2018), it may also contribute to somatosensory processing. The present study adds to our previous results as lower FA in the POCG-HG was also associated with poor proprioceptive performance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Compared to the motor system, the anatomy underlying proprioception is less well understood. Our group has recently examined cortical and subcortical lesion locations associated with poor proprioception in the subacute (Findlater et al, ; Kenzie et al, ) and chronic phases poststroke (Findlater et al, ) and have highlighted the importance of the primary somatosensory cortex, the supramarginal gyrus (SMG) and Heschl's gyrus (HG; also referred to as the transverse temporal gyrus) for proprioception. The relevance of the white matter tracts thought to underlie proprioception has yet to be investigated after stroke, despite numerous (>20) investigations into the relationship of the corticospinal tracts (CST) and motor impairment (see Kim & Winstein, for a review).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The SMG is a somatosensory association area (Iwamura, ; Pandya & Seltzer, ) that is important for awareness of hand position (Ben‐Shabat, Matyas, Pell, Brodtmann, & Carey, ; Brozzoli, Gentile, Petkova, & Ehrsson, ). HG is an association area which appears to be involved in proprioception (Findlater et al, , ) and is also involved in sensorimotor integration of listening and repeating (Bajada et al, ) as well as spatial localization of sound (Altmann, Bledowski, Wibral, & Kaiser, ; Baumgart, Gaschler‐Markefski, Woldorff, Heinze, & Scheich, ; Zatorre & Penhune, ). HG also has extensive connections with the parietal lobe (Jung, Cloutman, Binney, & Lambon Ralph, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Proprioception and motor performance after stroke: An examination of diffusion properties in sensory and motor pathways

Findlater

Mazerolle

Pike

et al. 2019

Self Cite

Proprioceptive and motor impairments commonly occur after stroke. Relationships between corticospinal tract (CST) fractional anisotropy (FA) and motor recovery have been identified. However, the relationship between sensory tract microstructure and proprioceptive recovery remains unexplored. Using probabilistic tractography, we examined the relationship between diffusion metrics in three tracts known to contain proprioceptive information (a) dorsal‐column medial‐lemniscal (DCML), (b) postcentral gyrus to supramarginal gyrus (POCG‐SMG), (c) postcentral gyrus to Heschl's gyrus (POCG‐HG) and proprioception at 1 (n = 26) and 6 months (n = 19) poststroke. Proprioception was assessed using two robotic tasks. Motor performance was also assessed robotically and compared to CST diffusion metrics. At 1‐month poststroke, a nonsignificant relationship (r = −0.43, p = 0.05) was observed between DCML‐FA and proprioceptive impairment. A moderate relationship was identified between POCG‐SMG FA and POCG‐HG FA and proprioceptive impairment (r = −0.47, p = 0.001 and r = −0.51, p = 0.008, respectively). No relationships were significant at 6 months poststroke. Similar to previous studies, lower CST‐FA correlated with motor impairment at 1 month poststroke (r = −0.58, p = 0.002). While CST‐FA is considered a predictor of motor impairment, our findings suggest that the relationship between FA and tracts containing proprioceptive information is not as straightforward and highlights the importance of sensory association areas in proprioception.

Resting state functional connectivity associated with impaired proprioception post‐stroke

Kenzie,

Rajashekar,

Goodyear

et al. 2023

Self Cite

Deficits in proprioception, the knowledge of limb position and movement in the absence of vision, occur in ~50% of all strokes; however, our lack of knowledge of the neurological mechanisms of these deficits diminishes the effectiveness of rehabilitation and prolongs recovery. We performed resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) on stroke patients to determine functional brain networks that exhibited changes in connectivity in association with proprioception deficits determined by a Kinarm robotic exoskeleton assessment. Thirty stroke participants were assessed for proprioceptive impairments using a Kinarm robot and underwent resting‐state fMRI at 1 month post‐stroke. Age‐matched healthy control (n = 30) fMRI data were also examined and compared to stroke data in terms of the functional connectivity of brain regions associated with proprioception. Stroke patients exhibited reduced connectivity of the supplementary motor area and the supramarginal gyrus, relative to controls. Functional connectivity of these regions plus primary somatosensory cortex and parietal opercular area was significantly associated with proprioceptive function. The parietal lobe of the lesioned hemisphere is a significant node for proprioception after stroke. Assessment of functional connectivity of this region after stroke may assist with prognostication of recovery. This study also provides potential targets for therapeutic neurostimulation to aid in stroke recovery.