Cortico-muscular coherence in primary lateral sclerosis reveals abnormal cortical engagement during motor function beyond primary motor areas

Saroj Bista, Amina Coffey, Antonio Fasano, Teresa Buxo, Matthew Mitchell, Eileen Rose Giglia, Stefan Dukic, Mark Heverin, Muthuraman Muthuraman, Richard G Carson, Madeleine Lowery, Orla Hardiman, Lara McManus, Bahman Nasseroleslami

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) is a slowly progressing disorder, which is characterized primarily by the degeneration of upper motor neurons (UMNs) in the primary motor area (M1). It is not yet clear how the function of sensorimotor networks beyond M1 are affected by PLS. The aim of this study was to use cortico-muscular coherence (CMC) to characterize the oscillatory drives between cortical regions and muscles during a motor task in PLS and to examine the relationship between CMC and the level of clinical impairment. We recorded EEG and EMG from hand muscles in 16 participants with PLS and 18 controls during a pincer-grip task. In PLS, higher CMC was observed over contralateral-M1 (α- and γ-band) and ipsilateral-M1 (β-band) compared with controls. Significant correlations between clinically assessed UMN scores and CMC measures showed that higher clinical impairment was associated with lower CMC over contralateral-M1/frontal areas, higher CMC over parietal area, and both higher and lower CMC (in different bands) over ipsilateral-M1. The results suggest an atypical engagement of both contralateral and ipsilateral M1 during motor activity in PLS, indicating the presence of pathogenic and/or adaptive/compensatory alterations in neural activity. The findings demonstrate the potential of CMC for identifying dysfunction within the sensorimotor networks in PLS.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)8712–8723
JournalCerebral Cortex
Volume33
Issue number13
Early online date04 May 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01 Jul 2023

Keywords

  • cortico-muscular coherence
  • EMG
  • neurodegeneration EEG
  • upper motor neuron
  • primary lateral sclerosis (PLS)

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