Novel Functional MRI Task for Studying the Neural Correlates of Upper Limb Tremor
| dc.contributor.author | Boonstra, Frederique | |
| dc.contributor.author | Perera, Thushara | |
| dc.contributor.author | Noffs, Gustavo | |
| dc.contributor.author | Marotta, Cassandra | |
| dc.contributor.author | Vogel, Adam | |
| dc.contributor.author | Evans, Andrew | |
| dc.contributor.author | Butzkueven, Helmut | |
| dc.contributor.author | Moffat, Bradford | |
| dc.contributor.author | Van der Walt, Anneke | |
| dc.contributor.author | Kolbe, Scott | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2018-07-03T03:42:34Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2018-07-03T03:42:34Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2018-07 | |
| dc.description.abstract | INTRODUCTION: Tremor of the upper limbs is a disabling symptom that is present during several neurological disorders and is currently without treatment. Functional MRI (fMRI) is an essential tool to investigate the pathophysiology of tremor and aid the development of treatment options. However, no adequately or standardised protocols for fMRI exists at present. Here we present a novel, online available fMRI task that could be used to assess the in vivo pathology of tremor. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to validate the tremor-evoking potential of the fMRI task in a small group of tremor patients outside the scanner and assess the reproducibility of the fMRI task related activation in healthy controls. METHODS: Twelve HCs were scanned at two time points (baseline and after 6-weeks). There were two runs of multi-band fMRI and the tasks included a ‘brick-breaker’ joystick game. The game consisted of three conditions designed to control for most of the activation related to performing the task by contrasting the conditions: WATCH (look at the game without moving joystick), MOVE (rhythmic left/right movement of joystick without game), and PLAY (playing the game). Task fMRI was analysed using FSL FEAT to determine clusters of activation during the different conditions. Maximum activation within the clusters was used to assess the ability to control for task related activation and reproducibility. Four tremor patients have been included to test ecological and construct validity of the joystick task by assessing tremor frequencies captured by the joystick. RESULTS: In HCs the game activated areas corresponding to motor, attention and visual areas. Most areas of activation by our game showed moderate to good reproducibility (intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) 0.531 to 0.906) with only inferior parietal lobe activation showing poor reproducibility (ICC 0.446). Furthermore, the joystick captured significantly more tremulous movement in tremor patients compared to HCs (p=0.01) during PLAY, but not during MOVE. CONCLUSION: Validation of our novel task confirmed tremor-evoking potential and reproducibility analyses yielded acceptable results to continue further investigations into the pathophysiology of tremor. The use of this technique in studies with tremor patient will no doubt provide significant insights into the treatment options. | en_US |
| dc.description.sponsorship | This project was funded by an NHMRC Project Grant (1085461 CIA AvdW). Bionics Institute receivesOperational Infrastructure Support from the Victorian Government. AV receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia (CareerDevelopment Fellowship ID1082910), received funding from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and receives institutional support from The University of Melbourne. AE has received honoraria fromNovartis for giving presentations and providing consultancy services. He has participated in scientific advisory board meetings for Novartis, UCB Pharma, Allergan, and Boehringer Ingelheim. He has received conference travel support from Boehringer Ingelheim. HB is supported by an NHRMC Practitioner Fellowship 1080518. BM receives a fellowship from the National Institutes of Health. AvdW is supported by an NHMRC Early Career Fellowship (1123330). SK receives grant income from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia and has received honoraria from Novartis. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.citation | Boonstra, Frederique M. C., Thushara Perera, Gustavo Noffs, Cassandra Marotta, Adam P. Vogel, Andrew H. Evans, Helmut Butzkueven, Bradford A. Moffat, Anneke van der Walt, and Scott C. Kolbe. 2018. Novel Functional MRI Task for Studying the Neural Correlates of Upper Limb Tremor. Frontiers in Neurology. 9(513). | en_US |
| dc.identifier.issn | 1664-2295 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://repository.bionicsinstitute.org:8080/handle/123456789/306 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Frontiers in Neurology | en_US |
| dc.subject | Tremor | en_US |
| dc.subject | Upper limb | en_US |
| dc.subject | fMRI | en_US |
| dc.subject | Validation | en_US |
| dc.subject | Reproducibility | en_US |
| dc.title | Novel Functional MRI Task for Studying the Neural Correlates of Upper Limb Tremor | en_US |
| dc.type | Article | en_US |