title: An fNIRS exploratory investigation of the cortical activity during gait in children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The primary aim of this exploratory investigation was to determine if there are differences in cortical activation of children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy (CP) and typically developing children during gait.
  
  
  METHODS
  Functional near-infrared spectroscopy was used to measure the concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin that was present in the supplementary motor area, pre-central gyrus, post-central gyrus and superior parietal lobule as the children walked on a treadmill. A sagittal plane video was concurrently collected and later digitized to quantify the temporal gait variations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  (1) The children with CP had an increased amount of activation in the sensorimotor cortices and superior parietal lobule during gait, (2) the children with CP had a greater amount of variability or error in their stride time intervals, and (3) an increased amount of error in the temporal gait kinematics was associated with an increased amount of activity across the cortical network.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that the perinatal damage and subsequent neural reorganization that occurs with spastic diplegic CP may impact the functional cortical activity for controlling gait. Furthermore, our results imply the increased cortical activity of the somatosensory cortices and superior parietal cortices may underlie the greater amount of error in the temporal gait kinematics.
authors: Department of Physical Therapy, Munroe-Meyer Institute, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States; Center for Magnetoencephalography (MEG), University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States. Electronic address: mkurz@unmc.edu.
authors: Max J
authors: MJ
authors: Kurz
authors: Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience, College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States; Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States; Center for Magnetoencephalography (MEG), University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States.
authors: Tony W
authors: TW
authors: Wilson
authors: Department of Physical Therapy, Munroe-Meyer Institute, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States.
authors: David J
authors: DJ
authors: Arpin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D020233:Gait Disorders, Neurologic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; D013223:Statistics as Topic
chemical_list: D006454:Hemoglobins
keywords: Mobile brain imaging; Motor control; Variability; Walking