The importance of pyramidal tract integrity for cortical plasticity and related functionality in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Background

Cortical plasticity induced by quadripulse stimulation (QPS) has been shown to correlate with cognitive functions in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and to not be reduced compared to healthy controls (HCs).

Objective

This study aimed to compare the degree of QPS-induced plasticity between different subtypes of multiple sclerosis (MS) and HCs and to investigate the association of the degree of plasticity with motor and cognitive functions. We expected lower levels of plasticity in patients with progressive MS (PMS) but not RRMS compared to HCs. Furthermore, we expected to find positive correlations with cognitive and motor performance in patients with MS.

Methods

QPS-induced plasticity was compared between 34 patients with PMS, 30 patients with RRMS, and 30 HCs using linear mixed-effects models. The degree of QPS-induced cortical plasticity was correlated with various motor and cognitive outcomes.

Results

There were no differences regarding the degree of QPS-induced cortical plasticity between HCs and patients with RRMS (

Conclusion

Our study supports the notion of pyramidal tract integrity being of more relevance for QPS-induced cortical plasticity in MS and related functional significance than the type of disease.

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2023 Balloff, Albrecht, Stucke, Scala, Novello, Hartmann, Meuth, Schnitzler, Penner and Groiss.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

PA received compensation for serving on Scientific Advisory Boards for Allergan, Celgene, Janssen Cilag, Ipsen, Merck, Merz Pharmaceuticals, Novartis, and Biogen; he received speaker honoraria and travel support from Novartis, Teva, Biogen, Celgene, Merz Pharmaceuticals, Ipsen, Allergan, Bayer Healthcare, Esai, UCB; Roche; he received research support from Novartis, Allergan, Biogen, Celgene, Teva, Merz Pharmaceuticals, Ipsen, and Roche. CH has been serving as a consultant for Univar and has received honoraria for lecturing and travel expenses/speaking honoraria from Abbott and Alexion, and research support from Abbott. SM has received honoraria for lecturing and travel expenses for attending meetings from Almirall, Amicus Therapeutics Germany, Bayer Health Care, Biogen, Celgene, Diamed, Genzyme, MedDay Pharmaceuticals, Merck Serono, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, ONO Pharma, Roche, SanofiAventis, Chugai Pharma, QuintilesIMS, and Teva, and research funding from the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the Else Kröner Fresenius Foundation, the German Academic Exchange Service, the Hertie Foundation, the Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Studies (IZKF) Muenster, the German Foundation for Neurology, Almirall, Amicus Therapeutics, Germany, Biogen, Diamed, Fresenius Medical Care, Genzyme, Merck Serono, Novartis, ONO Pharma, Roche, and Teva. AS has received lecture fees from Abbott, Novartis, and Kyowa Kirin, and has been serving as a consultant for Abbott, Zambon, and Medtronic Inc. He received royalties from Georg Thieme Verlag. He is a government employee and receives through his institution funding for his research from the German Research Council, Abbott, and the Brunhilde Moll Foundation. I-KP received honoraria for speaking at scientific meetings, serving at scientific advisory boards, and consulting activities from Almirall, Bayer Pharma, Biogen, BMS, Celgene, Sanofi-Genzyme, Janssen, Merck, Novartis, Roche, and Teva. She received research support from the German MS Society, Celgene, Novartis, Roche, and Teva. SG received honoraria and/or travel expenses from Abbott Medical, Abbvie, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Rogue Research, and UCB, consulting fees from Zambon, and research support from Abbott and Hilde-Ulrichs Stiftung. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.