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. 2014 Jun;35(6):1404-11.
doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2013.11.024. Epub 2013 Dec 1.

White matter integrity of motor connections related to training gains in healthy aging

Robert Schulz  1 , Máximo Zimerman  1 , Jan E Timmermann  1 , Maximilian J Wessel  1 , Christian Gerloff  1 , Friedhelm C Hummel  2
Affiliations

White matter integrity of motor connections related to training gains in healthy aging

Robert Schulz et al. Neurobiol Aging. 2014 Jun.

Abstract

Impaired motor skill acquisition is a feature of older age. Acquisition of new motor skills requires the interplay between different cortical motor areas. Using diffusion tensor imaging we reconstructed cortico-cortical connections between the primary motor cortex (M1) and secondary motor areas in 11 older and 11 young participants who took part in a motor skill acquisition paradigm with the nondominant left hand. Examining the extent to which tract-related integrity correlated with training gains we found that white matter integrity of fibers connecting contralateral M1 with both contralateral (r = 0.85) and ipsilateral supplementary motor areas (r = 0.92) were positively associated in old participants. Also, fibers connecting contralateral M1 with ipsilateral dorsal premotor (r = 0.82) and fibers connecting ipsilateral dorsal premotor and supplementary motor area (r = 0.88) were positively related to skill acquisition (all p < 0.05). A similar structure-behavior relationship was not present in the young control subjects suggesting a critical role of brain structural integrity for motor learning in healthy aging.

Keywords: Aging; Connectivity; Diffusion; Healthy; Learning; Matter; Premotor; White; motor.

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