Longitudinal Sub-thalamic Structure and Functional Alterations in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

项目摘要 丘脑是所有感觉通路（嗅觉除外）到大脑皮层的中继站。国际法也规范 睡眠和意识，支持运动和语言功能和记忆。它在认知中的作用现在也越来越重要。 认可.鉴于它是上升和下降皮质投射的连接点， 无论身体损伤的确切位置如何， 反对有效因此，丘脑损伤可能是各种持续性脑震荡后症状和认知功能障碍的基础。 损伤最近，我们的团队提供了多方面的证据，包括新陈代谢的改变，组织的改变， 微结构和不同的丘脑下区域和皮质区域之间的改变的功能通信 与TBI后的感觉处理有关。我们的研究结果表明，结构和功能的完整性， 丘脑可能是TBI患者诊断和长期随访的重要因素。这些研究 他把丘脑作为一个单一的结构来研究，而不是把它作为一个由各种核团组成的复合体。 提供了证据表明，丘脑功能是高度选择性的，单个核团执行离散的功能。 然而，由于在特定的丘脑核团内缺乏图像对比度， 丘脑因此，我们建议开发新的MR成像和多模态特征分类方法来分割 丘脑进入其个别核团和测试的假设，创伤后的结构和功能的变化， 丘脑核团的完整性将与特定的神经心理学和认知功能的进展有关。 轻度TBI后的症状我们将通过以下目标来检验这一假设：（a）发展和优化技术， 生成一系列基于T1的合成MPWE（SynMPWE）图像，用于直接可视化丘脑下核， (b)检查丘脑的纵向结构改变，并与100例mTBI患者的连接进行比较 与骨科受伤的对照受试者，和（c）检查静息状态丘脑连接的纵向变化 mTBI之后。通过开发新的成像方法直接识别丘脑核团， 通过使用多模态分类方法开发和应用改进的分割技术， 计划了解丘脑的病理生理学和MRI测量丘脑损伤的预测价值， mTBI患者的神经心理和认知缺陷的发展。

Project Summary The thalamus is a relay station for all sensory pathways (except olfactory) to the cerebral cortex. It also regulates sleep and consciousness, supports motor and language function and memory. Its role in cognition is also now increasingly recognized. Given that it serves as a junction for ascending and descending cortical projections, it is likely that thalamus may bear a significant burden of traumatic brain injury (TBI) irrespective of the precise location of physical injury sustained. Thalamic injury may therefore underlie various persisting post-concussive symptoms and cognitive impairment. Recently, our group has provided multiple lines of evidence including altered metabolism, altered tissue microstructure and altered functional communication between various sub-thalamic regions and cortical regions associated with sensory processing after TBI. Our results suggest that the structural and functional integrity of the thalamus may serve as an important factor in the diagnosis and long-term follow-up of TBI patients. These studies have examined the thalamus as a single structure, not as a composite of the various nuclei that reside within it. Recent research has provided evidence that thalamic function is highly selective with individual nuclei performing discrete functions. However, pinpointing injury to specific thalamic nuclei is challenging due to the lack of image contrast within the thalamus. We therefore propose to develop novel MR imaging and multi-modal feature classification methods to segment the thalamus into its individual nuclei and test the hypothesis that post traumatic alterations in the structural and functional integrity of the thalamic nuclei will be associated with progression of specific neuropsychological and cognitive symptoms after mild TBI. We will test this hypothesis through the following aims: (a) Develop and optimize technique to generate a series of T1-based synthetic MPRAGE (SynMPRAGE) images for direct visualization of sub-thalamic nuclei, (b) examine longitudinal structural alterations of the thalamus, and its connectivity on 100 mTBI patients in comparison with orthopedically injured control subjects, and (c) examine longitudinal changes in resting state thalamic connectivity following mTBI. Through the development of novel imaging methodology to directly identify thalamic nuclei and through development and application of improved segmentation techniques using multi-modal classification methods, we plan to understand the pathophysiology of the thalamus and predictive value of MRI measures of thalamic injury in the development of neuropsychological and cognitive deficits in mTBI patients.