Muscle synergy patterns as physiological markers of motor cortical damage

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 109; no. 36; pp. 14652 - 14656
• Main Authors: Cheung, Vincent C. K., Turolla, Andrea, Agostini, Michela, Silvoni, Stefano, Bennis, Caoimhe, Kasi, Patrick, Paganoni, Sabrina, Bonato, Paolo, Bizzi, Emilio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 04.09.2012; National Acad Sciences
• Subjects: algorithms; Arm; Arm - physiopathology; Biological Sciences; Biomarkers; Brain damage; Discriminant analysis; Dot product of vectors; Electromyography; Factorization; Fractionation; Humans; Italy; Lesions; Motor ability; Motor Cortex - physiopathology; Motors; Muscle Contraction - physiology; Muscle, Skeletal - physiopathology; Muscles; Muscular system; Nervous System Diseases - diagnosis; Nervous System Diseases - etiology; Nervous System Diseases - rehabilitation; Neurosciences; patients; Physiology; Spinal cord; Stroke; Stroke - complications; Strokes; Italy

The experimental findings herein reported are aimed at gaining a perspective on the complex neural events that follow lesions of the motor cortical areas. Cortical damage, whether by trauma or stroke, interferes with the flow of descending signals to the modular interneuronal structures of the spina...