Neurophysiology of Motor Disorders in Spastic Diplegia

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this Career Transition Award is to acquire research training in clinical and neurophysiologic dimensions of motor disorders in cerebral palsy. Dr Mark Hallett of the Human Motor Control Section, NINDS, will act as the principal mentor for this training award. Cerebral palsy is a group of syndromes with non-progressive motor impairment resulting from a static injury to the developing brain. The processes of growth and development further complicate the motor syndromes of cerebral palsy leading to a changing clinical picture. Mirror movements in children with spastic hemiplegia are prominent in the affected hand under 10 years of age, but are more symmetric and less noticeable after this age. Investigators speculate that callosal maturation is responsible for these changes. Understanding the affect of development on motor manifestations of cerebral palsy is critical to develop effective rehabilitative strategies at each stage of life. Many children with cerebral palsy make significant contributions to society as adults, but these achievements are possible only by overcoming physical and educational impediments with effective therapeutic interventions. Research into therapeutic strategies can decrease the possibility of performing inappropriate or irreversible interventions. A major obstacle to research in this group of patients is difficulty in distinguishing between motor syndromes. Neurophysiology can help to distinguish between the specific hypertonic patterns and their contribution to the child's functional disability. The focus of the research proposed in this award is to use neurophysiologic methods to enhance our understanding of the motor disabilities of spastic diplegia and to explore the affect of development on these disorders. One set of studies, coinciding with training in the physiology of motor control, explores the more basic physiologic aspects of motor syndromes in spastic diplegia. These studies will assess diplegic children with the goal of clarifying the physiologic nature of these motor disorders and their relationship to functional status of the patients. A second set of studies examines motor skills in spastic diplegia children at different ages with the goal of defining the affect of callosal development on the motor syndromes of cerebral palsy.