Heetkamp, J. (Jolien) (2014) Age-related increase in activation of effort-related brain areas during a sustained fatiguing contraction: an fMRI study. thesis, Human Movement Sciences.
Full text available on request.Abstract
Many but not all studies show that old compared with young adults seem to execute simple motor tasks with greater brain activation. Associated activity, which is inadvertent activity of the homologous contralateral muscle that occurs especially during complex or effortful tasks, also increases with age. The purpose of the present study was to examine effects of age on brain activation and associated activity during a sustained fatiguing right index finger contraction. Twenty-six subjects (age range 19-64 years) performed a 124-s long maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) with the right index finger abductor (FDI) in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner during which the blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal was recorded. A one-sample t-test showed an increased bilateral activation in the sensorimotor cortex (SMC), primary motor cortex (M1), pre- and proper supplementary motor area (SMA), cerebellum, calcarine gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, fusiform gyrus, insula and left cingulate cortex. There were age-related increases in activation in the left middle temporal gyrus, left inferior temporal gyrus, bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (pars orbitalis and pars triangularis), right hippocampus, left inferior parietal lobe and the left caudate nucleus. We did not find an age-related increase in associated activity. We concluded that there is an age-related increase in brain activation during a sustained fatiguing task. However, the activated areas in older adults, somewhat unexpectedly, were those known to mediate effort and fatigue instead of motor function.
| Item Type: | Thesis (UNSPECIFIED) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Hortobágyi, prof. dr. T. (Tibor) and Zijdewind, dr. I. (Inge) |
| Faculty: | Medical Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 01 Apr 2022 11:59 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Apr 2022 11:59 |
| URI: | https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3018 |
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