Relation Between Cortical Activation and Graded Force Level During Robot-assistance Walking in Healthy People : A Functional Near-infrared Spectroscopy Neuroimaging Study.
Trial Snapshot
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Status
- Completed
- Enrollment
- 26
- Locations
- 1
- Primary Endpoint
- Change of oxyhemoglobin concentration during gait tasks
Study Overview
Brief Summary
Background. Force control is one of the major parameter of motor activity. There is few study concerning the cortical activity imply for different levels of force during gait.
Objective. To investigate cortex activation while walking an exoskeleton with 4 levels of guidance force in healthy controls.
Methods. The investigators acquired near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) with a 20 channels device (Brite 24® ; Artinis) covering bilaterally most motor control brain regions during exoskeleton walking at different level of force (100 %, 50% aid, 0 % aid and 25 % of resistance) in 24 healthy controls. The investigators measured variations of oxyhemoglobin (HbO2) and deoxyhemoglobin (HbR). The technique was optimized by the use of reference channels (to correct for superficial hemodynamic interference).
Detailed Description
An important goal of motor systems neuroscience is to characterize how neural activity in the brain mediates movement parameters such as force, velocity, frequency of movement or movement direction. The neural codage of force has been studied in animal and human with TEP , fMRI , functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), EEG or magnetic stimulation.
Electrophysiological studies in nonhuman primates demonstrated a correlation between neuronal discharge rates in multiple regions of the contralateral motor cortex and exerted force amplitude .
In humans, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies confirmed the relation between increasing neuronal activation and increasing amplitude of force in the contralateral primary motor/somatosensory (M1/S1) cortices, supplementary motor area (SMA), and premotor cortex. The ipsilateral motor cortex could also contribute to the force codage. There are also evidences that the basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical loop participates to the regulation of force control. The internal portion of the globus pallidus (GPi) and subthalamic nucleus (STN) had a positive increase in percent signal change with increasing force, and the ventral thalamic regions were also implied in the the same way. More recently, studies with fNIRS confirmed the relationship between force level and cerebral activation in contralateral and ipsilateral hemisphere.
Most of the human studies concerned isometric static tasks. Only few studies considered dynamic movements. As a rule, the processing of repetitive transient force changes requires more metabolic activity than the generation and control of a static force. There is a correlation between the force level and cortical changes within the neuronal network in contralateral M1 and anterior cerebellum.
Most of the studies concern the upper limb. To our knowledge only to studied concern the lower limb in an isometric force level. One concerns the neural correlates of quadriceps torque control in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients and the other one concerns isometric contractions with the ankle dorsiflexor in healthy controls.
Study Design
- Study Type
- Interventional
- Allocation
- Na
- Intervention Model
- Single Group
- Primary Purpose
- Health Services Research
- Masking
- None
Eligibility Criteria
- Ages
- 18 Years to 40 Years (Adult)
- Sex
- All
- Accepts Healthy Volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria
- •Healthy volunteers (with no known neurological, rheumatological or cardiological medical history)
- •Age between 18 and 40
- •Having social security coverage,
- •Having given written consent.
- •Height > 1.5 meters
- •Weight less than 100 kg.
- •Respect of the morphological criteria
Exclusion Criteria
- •Person under guardianship or curatorship,
- •Walking with assistance,
- •Trauma or orthopedic disorder that may affect walking,
- •Pregnant women,
- •Medication that alters alertness and potentially affects walking and attentional abilities,
Arms & Interventions
Subjects with 4 walking situations
Intervention: walking in 4 situations (Other)
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Change of oxyhemoglobin concentration during gait tasks
Time Frame: Day 0
Change of desoxyhemoglobin concentration during gait tasks
Time Frame: Day 0
Secondary Outcomes
No secondary outcomes reported