The neural mechanisms underlying motor impairment in multiple sclerosis (MS) remain unknown. Motor cortex dysfunction is implicated in blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, but the role of neural-vascular coupling underlying BOLD changes remains unknown. We sought to independently measure the physiologic factors (i.e., cerebral blood flow (ΔCBF), cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (ΔCMRO), and flow-metabolism coupling (ΔCBF/ΔCMRO), utilizing dual-echo calibrated fMRI (cfMRI) during a bilateral finger-tapping task. We utilized cfMRI to measure physiologic responses in 17 healthy volunteers and 32 MS patients (MSP) with and without motor impairment during a thumb-button-press task in thumb-related (task-central) and surrounding primary motor cortex (task-surround) regions of interest (ROIs). We observed significant ΔCBF and ΔCMRO increases in all MSP compared to healthy volunteers in the task-central ROI and increased flow-metabolism coupling (ΔCBF/ΔCMRO) in the MSP without motor impairment. In the task-surround ROI, we observed decreases in ΔCBF and ΔCMRO in MSP with motor impairment. Additionally, ΔCBF and ΔCMRO responses in the task-surround ROI were associated with motor function and white matter damage in MSP. These results suggest an important role for task-surround recruitment in the primary motor cortex to maintain motor dexterity and its dependence on intact white matter microstructure and neural-vascular coupling.

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7747162PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0271678X20908356DOI Listing

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