title: Recovery of biological motion perception and network plasticity after cerebellar tumor removal.
abstract: Visual perception of body motion is vital for everyday activities such as social interaction, motor learning or car driving. Tumors to the left lateral cerebellum impair visual perception of body motion. However, compensatory potential after cerebellar damage and underlying neural mechanisms remain unknown. In the present study, visual sensitivity to point-light body motion was psychophysically assessed in patient SL with dysplastic gangliocytoma (Lhermitte-Duclos disease) to the left cerebellum before and after neurosurgery, and in a group of healthy matched controls. Brain activity during processing of body motion was assessed by functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Alterations in underlying cerebro-cerebellar circuitry were studied by psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis. Visual sensitivity to body motion in patient SL before neurosurgery was substantially lower than in controls, with significant improvement after neurosurgery. Functional MRI in patient SL revealed a similar pattern of cerebellar activation during biological motion processing as in healthy participants, but located more medially, in the left cerebellar lobules III and IX. As in normalcy, PPI analysis showed cerebellar communication with a region in the superior temporal sulcus, but located more anteriorly. The findings demonstrate a potential for recovery of visual body motion processing after cerebellar damage, likely mediated by topographic shifts within the corresponding cerebro-cerebellar circuitry induced by cerebellar reorganization. The outcome is of importance for further understanding of cerebellar plasticity and neural circuits underpinning visual social cognition.
authors.affiliation: Département des Neurosciences Cliniques, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland; Department of Neurosurgery, University of Tübingen Medical School, Tübingen, Germany. Electronic address: arseny.sokolov@chuv.ch.
authors.forename: Arseny A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Sokolov
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Magnetic Resonance, University of Tübingen Medical School, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Erb
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Hospital Aachen, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Grodd
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, University of Tübingen Medical School, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Marcos S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Tatagiba
authors.affiliation: Département des Neurosciences Cliniques, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Richard S J
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Frackowiak
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Magnetic Resonance, University of Tübingen Medical School, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Marina A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Pavlova
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002528:Cerebellar Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Biological motion; Cerebellum; Plasticity; Visual processing; fMRI