RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Coherent waves of myelin plasticity during motor-skill learning
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2021.04.13.439402
DO 10.1101/2021.04.13.439402
A1 Michela Azzarito
A1 Gabriel Ziegler
A1 Eveline Huber
A1 Patrick Grabher
A1 Martina F. Callaghan
A1 Alan Thompson
A1 Karl Friston
A1 Nikolaus Weiskopf
A1 Tim Killeen
A1 Patrick Freund
YR 2021
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/04/14/2021.04.13.439402.abstract
AB Motor skill learning relies on neural plasticity in the motor and limbic systems. However, the spatial and temporal dependencies of these changes—and their microstructural underpinnings—remain unclear. Eighteen healthy males received training in a computer-controlled motion game 4 times a week, for 4 weeks. Performance improvements were observed in all trained participants. Serial myelin-sensitive multiparametric mapping at 3T during this period of intensive motor skill acquisition revealed temporally and spatially distributed, performance-related myelin-sensitive microstructural changes in the grey and white matter across the corticospinal system and hippocampus. Interestingly, analysis of the trajectory of these transient changes revealed a time-shifted choreography across white and grey matter of the corticospinal system as well as with changes in the hippocampus. Crucially, in the cranial corticospinal tracts, myelin-sensitive changes during training in the posterior part of the limb of the internal capsule were of greater magnitude in lower-limb trainees compared to upper limb trainees. Motor skill learning is depended on coherent waves of plasticity within a corticospinal-hippocampal loop.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.