title: Functional motor compensation in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
abstract: The present study investigated the fMRI correlates of functional compensation/neural reorganization of the motor system in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The hypothesis was that ALS patients would recruit additional brain regions compared with controls in a motor task and that activity in these regions would vary as a function of task difficulty. Patients and controls executed a motor task with two sequences (a simple and a more difficult one) of consecutive button presses. Patients and controls both activated brain regions known to be involved in motor execution and control. Activity in ipsilateral motor areas as well as difficulty-related activity in the left cerebellum could only be observed in patients. The behavioral data indicated that the motor task was much more difficult for patients than for controls. At nearly equal difficulty the observed patterns of hemodynamic activity in controls were very similar to those observed in ALS. The findings suggest that functional compensation in ALS relies on existing resources and mechanisms that are not primarily developed as a consequence of the lesion.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Neurology II, Otto v. Guericke University of Magdeburg, Leipziger Str. 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany. ariel@neuro2.med.uni-magdeburg.de
authors.forename: Mircea Ariel
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Schoenfeld
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tempelmann
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gaul
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Kühnel
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Düzel
authors.forename: J-M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Hopf
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Feistner
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zierz
authors.forename: H-J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Heinze
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vielhaber
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000098:blood supply / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen