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After amputation of a limb, the areas of the brain responsible for movement and sensations alter their functional communication. This is the conclusion of a new study published today in Scientific reports. According to the authors, the Institute for Research and Education of Gold (IDOR) and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), the results could help to understand why some patients report ghost sensations and others do not.
Entitled "Lower limb amputees undergo long-range plasticity in sensorimotor functional connectivity", the study represents a step forward in the comprehensive understanding of a phenomenon called brain plasticity, which means the ability of the brain to modify himself in response to situations of everyday life. This ability is greater during the early stages of development but remains essential for learning, memory and behavior throughout life. The study of the fundamentals of brain plasticity is the key to developing new treatments for mental disorders.
To deepen this question, neuroscientists in Brazil decided to examine the brain after lower limb amputation. In a previous study of the group, a magnetic resonance imaging experiment revealed that the brain reacts excessively when the stump is affected. In addition, they found that the corpus callosum, the brain structure that connects the cortical areas responsible for movement and sensation, loses its strength. These discoveries have aroused curiosity about the impact of an altered corpus callosum on the cortical areas it connects.
Under the direction of Fernanda Tovar-Moll, radiologist and president of IDOR, the researchers studied the differences in functional connectivity (communication of brain areas) between the motor and sensitive areas connected by the corpus callosum in nine limb amputees. inferior and nine healthy volunteers.
The results showed that the authors 'idea was correct: in response to touch in the strain, the sensitive and motor areas of the patients' brains exhibited an abnormal pattern of communication between the right and left hemispheres, probably as a result of Alteration of the corpus callosum. In addition, sensitive and motorized areas of the same hemisphere exhibited increased functional communication in amputees.
"The changes in the brain in response to amputation have been studied for years in patients reporting phantom limb pain, but our results show that there is an imbalance." functional even in the absence of pain, in patients reporting only ghost sensations, "says Ivanei Bramati, medical physicist and student doctoral student at IDOR.
According to the authors, understanding the evolution of neural networks in response to amputation can pave the way for the development of new technologies and new devices to treat this disorder and provide patients with better quality of life.
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