Movement-related cerebellar activation in the absence of sensory input.
Movement-related cerebellar activation may be due to sensory or motor processing. Ordinarily, sensory and motor processing are obligatorily linked, but in patients who have severe pansensory neuropathies with normal muscle strength, motor activity occurs in isolation. In the present study, positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging in such patients showed no cerebellar activation with passive movement, whereas there was prominent movement-related cerebellar activation despite absence of proprioceptive or visual input. The results indicate that motor processing occurs within the cerebellum and do not support the recently advanced view that the cerebellum is primarily a sensory organ.
Human Motor Control Section, Medical Neurology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-1428, USA.
R A
RA
Weeks
C
C
Gerloff
M
M
Honda
M C
MC
Dalakas
M
M
Hallett
D000368:Aged; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002524:Cerebellar Ataxia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000502:physiology*; D010292:Paresthesia / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed; D014110:Touch; D014732:Vibration