Microstructural dynamics of motor learning and sleep-dependent consolidation: A diffusion imaging study
Whitney Stee,
Antoine Legouhy,
Michele Guerreri,
Thomas Villemonteix,
Hui Zhang,
Philippe Peigneux
Affiliations
Whitney Stee
UR2NF-Neuropsychology and Functional Neuroimaging Research Unit affiliated at CRCN – Centre for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences and UNI - ULB Neuroscience Institute, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium; GIGA - Cyclotron Research Centre - In Vivo Imaging, University of Liège (ULiège), Liège, Belgium; Corresponding author
Antoine Legouhy
Department of Computer Science & Centre for Medical Image Computing, University College London (UCL), London, UK
Michele Guerreri
Department of Computer Science & Centre for Medical Image Computing, University College London (UCL), London, UK
Thomas Villemonteix
UR2NF-Neuropsychology and Functional Neuroimaging Research Unit affiliated at CRCN – Centre for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences and UNI - ULB Neuroscience Institute, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium; Laboratoire Psychopathologie et Processus de Changement, Paris-Lumières University, Saint-Denis, France
Hui Zhang
Department of Computer Science & Centre for Medical Image Computing, University College London (UCL), London, UK
Philippe Peigneux
UR2NF-Neuropsychology and Functional Neuroimaging Research Unit affiliated at CRCN – Centre for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences and UNI - ULB Neuroscience Institute, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium; GIGA - Cyclotron Research Centre - In Vivo Imaging, University of Liège (ULiège), Liège, Belgium
Summary: Memory consolidation can benefit from post-learning sleep, eventually leading to long-term microstructural brain modifications to accommodate new memory representations. Non-invasive diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) allows the observation of (micro)structural brain remodeling after time-limited motor learning. Here, we combine conventional diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) that allows modeling dendritic and axonal complexity in gray matter to investigate with improved specificity the microstructural brain mechanisms underlying time- and sleep-dependent motor memory consolidation dynamics. Sixty-one young healthy adults underwent four DWI sessions, two sequential motor trainings, and a night of total sleep deprivation or regular sleep distributed over five days. We observed rapid-motor-learning-related remodeling in occipitoparietal, temporal, and motor-related subcortical regions, reflecting temporary dynamics in learning-related neuronal brain plasticity processes. Sleep-related consolidation seems not to exert a detectable impact on diffusion parameters, at least on the timescale of a few days.
