Requirement of a complex motor task to identify neuroplastic changes in motor control of the lower extremity in patients with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: a fNIRS study.
{"title":"Requirement of a complex motor task to identify neuroplastic changes in motor control of the lower extremity in patients with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: a fNIRS study.","authors":"Ke Liu, Qin Zhu, Weidong Xu","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2025.1595284","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Neuromuscular control is a crucial component in restoring dynamic joint stability following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). The central nervous system, as the primary control center, is known to exhibit neuroplastic changes. However, motor tasks used to assess brain function in ACLR are often limited to simple and static movements. The current study aimed to compare brain activation between patients with ACLR (ACLR group) and healthy controls (CONT group) during both simple and complex motor tasks and to examine the relationship between brain activity and clinical functions to explore the underlying mechanisms of neuroplasticity.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A total of 35 patients with ACLR and 25 healthy controls participated in this study. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy was used to capture real-time brain activation during knee flexion-extension (K-FE) and single-leg squat (SLS) tasks. Clinical assessments included quadriceps strength, single-leg hop, and self-reported functional outcomes. A two-way mixed-design ANOVA was conducted with one between-subject factor (group) and one within-subject factor (task). The dependent variable was the change in oxyhemoglobin concentration (ΔHbO) across six brain regions.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>For the affected limb tasks, the Primary Somatosensory Cortex (S1) and Supramarginal Gyrus (SMG) showed significant main group effects (<i>P</i> <sub>S1</sub> = 0.035, <i>P</i> <sub>SMG</sub> = 0.002), whereas all brain regions showed significant main effects of task difficulty. A significant interaction between group and task was observed in the SMG (<i>p</i> = 0.036). For the contralateral limb tasks, no significant main effect of group or task was found across all brain regions. Pre-Motor Cortex (PMC), S1, Frontal Eye Fields (FEF), and SMG showed significant interaction effects between group and task (<i>P</i> <sub>PMC</sub> = 0.013, <i>P</i> <sub>S1</sub> = 0.015, <i>P</i> <sub>FEF</sub> = 0.015, and <i>P</i> <sub>SMG</sub> = 0.018). Multiple negative correlations were found between increased ΔHbO and functional outcomes in various brain regions, depending on the limb and task.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Brain activation increased with task difficulty. Patients with ACLR showed lower somatosensory cortex activation during affected limb tasks. Their task adaptation was weaker than that of healthy controls, suggesting deficits in proprioception and a lack of neural resources for adaptation to task complexity. The significant interaction effects observed during the contralateral limb tasks indicated the compensatory role of the contralateral limb. These conclusions were supported by correlations with clinical outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":"19 ","pages":"1595284"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12288510/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2025.1595284","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"NEUROSCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Introduction: Neuromuscular control is a crucial component in restoring dynamic joint stability following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). The central nervous system, as the primary control center, is known to exhibit neuroplastic changes. However, motor tasks used to assess brain function in ACLR are often limited to simple and static movements. The current study aimed to compare brain activation between patients with ACLR (ACLR group) and healthy controls (CONT group) during both simple and complex motor tasks and to examine the relationship between brain activity and clinical functions to explore the underlying mechanisms of neuroplasticity.
Methods: A total of 35 patients with ACLR and 25 healthy controls participated in this study. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy was used to capture real-time brain activation during knee flexion-extension (K-FE) and single-leg squat (SLS) tasks. Clinical assessments included quadriceps strength, single-leg hop, and self-reported functional outcomes. A two-way mixed-design ANOVA was conducted with one between-subject factor (group) and one within-subject factor (task). The dependent variable was the change in oxyhemoglobin concentration (ΔHbO) across six brain regions.
Results: For the affected limb tasks, the Primary Somatosensory Cortex (S1) and Supramarginal Gyrus (SMG) showed significant main group effects (PS1 = 0.035, PSMG = 0.002), whereas all brain regions showed significant main effects of task difficulty. A significant interaction between group and task was observed in the SMG (p = 0.036). For the contralateral limb tasks, no significant main effect of group or task was found across all brain regions. Pre-Motor Cortex (PMC), S1, Frontal Eye Fields (FEF), and SMG showed significant interaction effects between group and task (PPMC = 0.013, PS1 = 0.015, PFEF = 0.015, and PSMG = 0.018). Multiple negative correlations were found between increased ΔHbO and functional outcomes in various brain regions, depending on the limb and task.
Conclusion: Brain activation increased with task difficulty. Patients with ACLR showed lower somatosensory cortex activation during affected limb tasks. Their task adaptation was weaker than that of healthy controls, suggesting deficits in proprioception and a lack of neural resources for adaptation to task complexity. The significant interaction effects observed during the contralateral limb tasks indicated the compensatory role of the contralateral limb. These conclusions were supported by correlations with clinical outcomes.
期刊介绍：
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience is a first-tier electronic journal devoted to understanding the brain mechanisms supporting cognitive and social behavior in humans, and how these mechanisms might be altered in disease states. The last 25 years have seen an explosive growth in both the methods and the theoretical constructs available to study the human brain. Advances in electrophysiological, neuroimaging, neuropsychological, psychophysical, neuropharmacological and computational approaches have provided key insights into the mechanisms of a broad range of human behaviors in both health and disease. Work in human neuroscience ranges from the cognitive domain, including areas such as memory, attention, language and perception to the social domain, with this last subject addressing topics, such as interpersonal interactions, social discourse and emotional regulation. How these processes unfold during development, mature in adulthood and often decline in aging, and how they are altered in a host of developmental, neurological and psychiatric disorders, has become increasingly amenable to human neuroscience research approaches. Work in human neuroscience has influenced many areas of inquiry ranging from social and cognitive psychology to economics, law and public policy. Accordingly, our journal will provide a forum for human research spanning all areas of human cognitive, social, developmental and translational neuroscience using any research approach.
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
