Clinical trial NCT04934319: Association Between Balance and the Integrity of Cerebellar White Matter Tracts in a Healthy Population
Official title: Association Between Balance and the Integrity of Cerebellar White Matter Tracts in a Healthy Population
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Balance
Cerebellum
Keywords: Balance
Cerebellum
White matter tract
Diffusion Tensor Imaging
Lead sponsor: The Catholic University of Korea
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2021-06-22
Enrollment: 22
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 20
Maximum age (years): 74
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: NA
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE

Brief summary: The cerebellum is involved in regulating balance and walking and plays a crucial role in the locomotor adaptation and learning processes. This study aims to investigate the association between balance and the integrity of the cerebellar white matter tracts in a healthy population. Healthy participants will undergo four weeks of balance training. The investigators will analyze changes in the microstructural integrity of the cerebellar white matter tract before and after four weeks of balance training.

Detailed description: The cerebellum is involved in regulating balance and walking and plays a crucial role in the locomotor adaptation and learning processes. The cerebellum's intermediate zone, which receives afferent stimuli from the sensorimotor cortex (via the cortico-ponto-cerebellar tract) and peripheral muscles (via the dorsal spinocerebellar tract), contributes to maintaining body posture and regulating walking. Proprioceptive information from the peripheral muscles passes through the dorsal spinocerebellar tract, enters the ipsilateral cerebellar hemisphere via the inferior cerebellar peduncle, and finally projects to the contralateral motor cortex through the cerebello-thalamo-cortical pathways.

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) enables microstructural evaluation of the white matter tracts. Both diffusion tensor tractography, to determine the structural connectivity of the whole tract, and DTI-derived parameters, to determine the microstructural organization, can represent the integrity of the cerebellar white matter tracts.

The investigators will evaluate the motor-related white matter tracts, including the corticospinal tract, the cortico-ponto-cerebellar tract, the dorsal spinocerebellar tract, and the dentato-rubro-thalamo-cortical tract. Healthy participants will perform the four weeks of balance training, and DTI will be acquired before and after exercise. The investigators will analyze the DTI-derived parameters of the relevant white matter tracts and analyze the longitudinal changes. The investigators hypothesized that the four weeks of balance training would enhance the integrity of the cerebellar white matter tracts.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Mini-mental state examination \>=26
* Independent outdoor ambulator

Exclusion Criteria:

* Men/women with any metal implants in their body
* A prior history of psychopathology or a neurological disorders
* A prior history of osteoporosis, advanced osteoarthritis (K-L grade \>=3), surgical history of hip or knee arthroplasty
* If any structural abnormalities are detected on their scan

Primary outcomes:
measure: Fractional anisotropy of the cerebellar white matter tracts
timeFrame: Four weeks
measure: Community Balance & Mobility Scale
timeFrame: Four weeks
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Mean diffusivity of the cerebellar white matter tracts
timeFrame: Four weeks
measure: Tract volume of the cerebellar white matter tracts
timeFrame: Four weeks
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Seoul
country: Korea, Republic of
facility: Yeouido St. Mary's Hospital
state: Yeongdeungpo-gu
Study officials:
affiliation: Yeouido St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea
name: Youngkook Kim, Ph.D.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Kim JS, Kim SH, Lim SH, Im S, Hong BY, Oh J, Kim Y. Degeneration of the Inferior Cerebellar Peduncle After Middle Cerebral Artery Stroke: Another Perspective on Crossed Cerebellar Diaschisis. Stroke. 2019 Oct;50(10):2700-2707. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.119.025723. Epub 2019 Aug 26.
citation: Kim Y, Kim SH, Kim JS, Hong BY. Modification of Cerebellar Afferent Pathway in the Subacute Phase of Stroke. J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2018 Sep;27(9):2445-2452. doi: 10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2018.04.039. Epub 2018 May 22.
citation: Kim Y, Im S, Kim SH, Park GY. Laterality of cerebellar afferent and efferent pathways in a healthy right-handed population: A diffusion tensor imaging study. J Neurosci Res. 2019 May;97(5):582-596. doi: 10.1002/jnr.24378. Epub 2018 Dec 24.