title: Separate ipsilateral and contralateral corticospinal projections in congenital mirror movements: Neurophysiological evidence and significance for motor rehabilitation.
abstract: The neurophysiological hallmark of congenital mirror movements (MM) are fast-conducting corticospinal projections from the hand area of one primary motor cortex to both sides of the spinal cord. It is still unclear whether the abnormal ipsilateral projection originates through branching fibres from the normal contralateral projection or constitutes a separate ipsilateral projection. To clarify this question, we used focal paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation to test task-related modulation of short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) in the abductor pollicis brevis (APB) muscles of a 15-year-old girl (Patient 1) and a 40-year-old woman (Patient 2) with congenital MM. In both patients, during intended unilateral APB contraction, SICI decreased markedly in the "task" APB but remained unchanged in the "mirror" APB when compared to muscle rest. In contrast, spinal excitability as tested with H reflexes increased similarly in the task and mirror flexor carpi radialis muscles. This dissociation of task-related SICI modulation strongly supports the existence of a separate ipsilateral fast-conducting corticospinal projection. In Patient 1, we tested the functional significance of this separate ipsilateral projection during 7 months of motor rehabilitation training, which was designed to facilitate unilateral finger movements. A marked reduction of MM was observed after training, suggesting that unwanted mirror activity in the ipsilateral pathway can be suppressed by learning.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Neurology, Santa Maria Nuova Hospital, Florence, Italy. cincotta@unifi.it
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cincotta
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Borgheresi
authors.forename: Lara
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Balzini
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vannucchi
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zeloni
authors.forename: Aldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ragazzoni
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Benvenuti
authors.forename: Gaetano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zaccara
authors.forename: Graziano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Arnetoli
authors.forename: Ulf
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Ziemann
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D004576:Electromyography / Q000295:instrumentation; D019054:Evoked Potentials, Motor / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand / Q000294:innervation; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D008280:Magnetics / Q000295:instrumentation; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009069:Movement Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000294:innervation; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010507:Periodicity; D012886:Skull; D013127:Spinal Nerves / Q000503:physiopathology*