Association Between Balance and the Integrity of Cerebellar White Matter Tracts in a Healthy Population

The Catholic University of Korea

Status

Completed

Conditions

Balance

Cerebellum

Treatments

Behavioral: Balance and Proprioceptive Training

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT04934319

SC20FISI0152

Details and patient eligibility

About

The cerebellum is involved in regulating balance and walking and plays a crucial role in the locomotor adaptation and learning processes. This study aims to investigate the association between balance and the integrity of the cerebellar white matter tracts in a healthy population. Healthy participants will undergo four weeks of balance training. The investigators will analyze changes in the microstructural integrity of the cerebellar white matter tract before and after four weeks of balance training.

Full description

The cerebellum is involved in regulating balance and walking and plays a crucial role in the locomotor adaptation and learning processes. The cerebellum's intermediate zone, which receives afferent stimuli from the sensorimotor cortex (via the cortico-ponto-cerebellar tract) and peripheral muscles (via the dorsal spinocerebellar tract), contributes to maintaining body posture and regulating walking. Proprioceptive information from the peripheral muscles passes through the dorsal spinocerebellar tract, enters the ipsilateral cerebellar hemisphere via the inferior cerebellar peduncle, and finally projects to the contralateral motor cortex through the cerebello-thalamo-cortical pathways.

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) enables microstructural evaluation of the white matter tracts. Both diffusion tensor tractography, to determine the structural connectivity of the whole tract, and DTI-derived parameters, to determine the microstructural organization, can represent the integrity of the cerebellar white matter tracts.

The investigators will evaluate the motor-related white matter tracts, including the corticospinal tract, the cortico-ponto-cerebellar tract, the dorsal spinocerebellar tract, and the dentato-rubro-thalamo-cortical tract. Healthy participants will perform the four weeks of balance training, and DTI will be acquired before and after exercise. The investigators will analyze the DTI-derived parameters of the relevant white matter tracts and analyze the longitudinal changes. The investigators hypothesized that the four weeks of balance training would enhance the integrity of the cerebellar white matter tracts.

Enrollment

22 patients

Sex

All

Ages

20 to 74 years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Mini-mental state examination >=26
Independent outdoor ambulator

Exclusion criteria

Men/women with any metal implants in their body
A prior history of psychopathology or a neurological disorders
A prior history of osteoporosis, advanced osteoarthritis (K-L grade >=3), surgical history of hip or knee arthroplasty
If any structural abnormalities are detected on their scan