Effects of Electrical Stimulation on Activation of Mirror Neuron Network in Healthy Adults during Motor Execution and Imitation: An fNIRS Study
Background: Observation, execution, and imitation of target actions based on mirror neuron network (MNN) have become common physiotherapy strategies. Electrical stimulation (ES) is a common intervention to improve muscle strength and motor control in rehabilitation treatments. It...
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| Language: | English |
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IMR Press
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Integrative Neuroscience |
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| Online Access: | https://www.imrpress.com/journal/JIN/24/1/10.31083/JIN25731 |
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| author | Yao Cui Fang Cong Fu-Biao Huang Ming Zeng Jun Wang |
| author_facet | Yao Cui Fang Cong Fu-Biao Huang Ming Zeng Jun Wang |
| author_sort | Yao Cui |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Observation, execution, and imitation of target actions based on mirror neuron network (MNN) have become common physiotherapy strategies. Electrical stimulation (ES) is a common intervention to improve muscle strength and motor control in rehabilitation treatments. It is possible to enhance MNN’s activation by combining motor execution (ME) and motor imitation (MI) with ES simultaneously. This study aims to reveal whether ES could impact cortical activation during ME and MI. Methods: We recruited healthy individuals and assigned them randomly to the control group (CG) or experiment group (EG). Participants in EG performed ME and MI tasks with ES, while participants in CG performed the same two tasks with sham ES. We utilized functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to detect brain activation of MNN during ME and MI with and without ES, a randomized block design experiment paradigm was designed. Descriptive analysis of oxy-hemoglobin (HbO) and deoxy-hemoglobin (HbR) were used to show the hemoglobin (Hb) concentration changes after different event onsets in both CG and EG, a linear mixed-effects model (LMM) of HbO data was employed to analyze the effect of ES on the activation of MNN. Results: A total of 102 healthy adults were recruited and 72 participants’ data were analysed in the final report. The block averaged Hb data showed that HbO concentration increased and HbR concentration decreased in most MNN regions during ME and MI in both groups. The LMM results showed that ES can significantly improve the activation of inferior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, and precentral gyrus during MI, the supplementary motor area, inferior parietal lobule, and superior temporal gyri showed increased activation, but without statistical significance. Although the results did not reach statistical significance during ME, ES still showed positive effects on increased overall activations. Conclusions: In this study, we present potential novel rehabilitation approaches that combines MNN strategies and low-frequency ES to enhance cortical activation. Our results revealed that ES has potential to increase activation of most MNN brain areas, providing evidence for related rehabilitative interventions and device development. Clinical Trial Registration: This study was registered on the China Clinical Trial Registration Center (identifier: ChiCTR2200064082, registered 26, September 2022, https://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.html?proj=178285). |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e8535463c61644b49520404274a14dee |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0219-6352 1757-448X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IMR Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Integrative Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj-art-e8535463c61644b49520404274a14dee2025-01-25T07:38:07ZengIMR PressJournal of Integrative Neuroscience0219-63521757-448X2025-01-012412573110.31083/JIN25731S0219-6352(24)00856-8Effects of Electrical Stimulation on Activation of Mirror Neuron Network in Healthy Adults during Motor Execution and Imitation: An fNIRS StudyYao Cui0Fang Cong1Fu-Biao Huang2Ming Zeng3Jun Wang4Department of Physical Therapy, Beijing Bo’ai Hospital, China Rehabilitation Research Center, 100068 Beijing, ChinaDepartment of Physical Therapy, Beijing Bo’ai Hospital, China Rehabilitation Research Center, 100068 Beijing, ChinaSchool of Rehabilitation Medicine, Capital Medical University, 100068 Beijing, ChinaDepartment of Rehabilitation Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, The Second Hospital of Jiaxing City, 314000 Jiaxing, Zhejiang, ChinaDepartment of Physical Therapy, Hangzhou Geriatric Hospital, 310022 Hangzhou, Zhejiang, ChinaBackground: Observation, execution, and imitation of target actions based on mirror neuron network (MNN) have become common physiotherapy strategies. Electrical stimulation (ES) is a common intervention to improve muscle strength and motor control in rehabilitation treatments. It is possible to enhance MNN’s activation by combining motor execution (ME) and motor imitation (MI) with ES simultaneously. This study aims to reveal whether ES could impact cortical activation during ME and MI. Methods: We recruited healthy individuals and assigned them randomly to the control group (CG) or experiment group (EG). Participants in EG performed ME and MI tasks with ES, while participants in CG performed the same two tasks with sham ES. We utilized functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to detect brain activation of MNN during ME and MI with and without ES, a randomized block design experiment paradigm was designed. Descriptive analysis of oxy-hemoglobin (HbO) and deoxy-hemoglobin (HbR) were used to show the hemoglobin (Hb) concentration changes after different event onsets in both CG and EG, a linear mixed-effects model (LMM) of HbO data was employed to analyze the effect of ES on the activation of MNN. Results: A total of 102 healthy adults were recruited and 72 participants’ data were analysed in the final report. The block averaged Hb data showed that HbO concentration increased and HbR concentration decreased in most MNN regions during ME and MI in both groups. The LMM results showed that ES can significantly improve the activation of inferior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, and precentral gyrus during MI, the supplementary motor area, inferior parietal lobule, and superior temporal gyri showed increased activation, but without statistical significance. Although the results did not reach statistical significance during ME, ES still showed positive effects on increased overall activations. Conclusions: In this study, we present potential novel rehabilitation approaches that combines MNN strategies and low-frequency ES to enhance cortical activation. Our results revealed that ES has potential to increase activation of most MNN brain areas, providing evidence for related rehabilitative interventions and device development. Clinical Trial Registration: This study was registered on the China Clinical Trial Registration Center (identifier: ChiCTR2200064082, registered 26, September 2022, https://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.html?proj=178285).https://www.imrpress.com/journal/JIN/24/1/10.31083/JIN25731mirror neuron networkmotor imitationmotor executionelectrical stimulationfunctional near-infrared spectroscopy |
| spellingShingle | Yao Cui Fang Cong Fu-Biao Huang Ming Zeng Jun Wang Effects of Electrical Stimulation on Activation of Mirror Neuron Network in Healthy Adults during Motor Execution and Imitation: An fNIRS Study Journal of Integrative Neuroscience mirror neuron network motor imitation motor execution electrical stimulation functional near-infrared spectroscopy |
| title | Effects of Electrical Stimulation on Activation of Mirror Neuron Network in Healthy Adults during Motor Execution and Imitation: An fNIRS Study |
| title_full | Effects of Electrical Stimulation on Activation of Mirror Neuron Network in Healthy Adults during Motor Execution and Imitation: An fNIRS Study |
| title_fullStr | Effects of Electrical Stimulation on Activation of Mirror Neuron Network in Healthy Adults during Motor Execution and Imitation: An fNIRS Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effects of Electrical Stimulation on Activation of Mirror Neuron Network in Healthy Adults during Motor Execution and Imitation: An fNIRS Study |
| title_short | Effects of Electrical Stimulation on Activation of Mirror Neuron Network in Healthy Adults during Motor Execution and Imitation: An fNIRS Study |
| title_sort | effects of electrical stimulation on activation of mirror neuron network in healthy adults during motor execution and imitation an fnirs study |
| topic | mirror neuron network motor imitation motor execution electrical stimulation functional near-infrared spectroscopy |
| url | https://www.imrpress.com/journal/JIN/24/1/10.31083/JIN25731 |
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