Cerebellum regulating cerebral functional cortex through multiple pathways in complete thoracolumbar spinal cord injury

This study investigates how the cerebellum, a brain region crucial for motor control and other functions, interacts with the cerebrum (the main part of the brain) in individuals with complete thoracolumbar spinal cord injury (CTSCI). The researchers aimed to identify changes in brain structure and connectivity that might contribute to sensorimotor dysfunction after SCI. The researchers used MRI to scan the brains of CTSCI patients and healthy controls. They looked at the structure of different cerebellar subregions and how these regions connect to various parts of the cerebrum. They also used a machine learning technique to identify the most important connections related to sensorimotor function. The study found that CTSCI patients had slight structural atrophy in one cerebellar region and decreased connectivity between the cerebellum and several areas of the cerebrum related to sensorimotor, visual, cognitive, and auditory functions. Furthermore, the connection between a specific cerebellar region (vermis_10) and a visual area (right fusiform gyrus) was identified as particularly important for sensorimotor function.

• 1
  CTSCI patients showed slightly decreased GMV in Vermis_3.
• 2
  CTSCI patients showed significantly decreased FC in the sensorimotor-related areas, visual-related regions, cognitive-related regions, and auditory-related regions compared to HCs.
• 3
  SVM weight analysis showed that the FC values between the vermis_10 and right fusiform gyrus had the greatest weight in the functional changes of CTSCI.