Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Spontaneous leg movements in infants with and without periventricular leukomalacia
T2 - effects of unilateral weighting
AU - Vaal, Juliette
AU - van Soest, A. J. Knoek
AU - Hopkins, Brian
AU - Sie, Lilian T. L.
PY - 2002/2/1
Y1 - 2002/2/1
N2 - The present study was designed to investigate the contribution of the corticospinal tracts in the regulation and coordination of interlimb couplings and the spatio-temporal organization of kicking movements in young infants. Both healthy infants and those with differing degrees of periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) were subjected to a unilateral weight manipulation at the (corrected) age of 26 weeks. Infants with PVL were grouped according to the amount of damage in the area in which the corticospinal tracts are located as shown by neonatal MRI and confirmed with MRI recordings at 18 months. The main question asked was whether unilateral weighting would reveal different adjustment in infants with and without PVL and whether these differences were related to the severity of the lesions, if present. The major finding was that no differences were evident between groups in adjusting to the weight manipulation with regard to the tightness of interlimb couplings. This finding corroborates the suggestion that corticospinal influences are not directly involved in the regulation of these parameters. Although the same conclusion could be drawn concerning the kinematic details of kicks on the basis of group data, individual analyses revealed that kinematics in a few infants with PVL were markedly affected by the weighting. Thus, combining group with individual analyses may have additional value in the clinical interpretation of the effects of PVL on the neural functions of young infants.
AB - The present study was designed to investigate the contribution of the corticospinal tracts in the regulation and coordination of interlimb couplings and the spatio-temporal organization of kicking movements in young infants. Both healthy infants and those with differing degrees of periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) were subjected to a unilateral weight manipulation at the (corrected) age of 26 weeks. Infants with PVL were grouped according to the amount of damage in the area in which the corticospinal tracts are located as shown by neonatal MRI and confirmed with MRI recordings at 18 months. The main question asked was whether unilateral weighting would reveal different adjustment in infants with and without PVL and whether these differences were related to the severity of the lesions, if present. The major finding was that no differences were evident between groups in adjusting to the weight manipulation with regard to the tightness of interlimb couplings. This finding corroborates the suggestion that corticospinal influences are not directly involved in the regulation of these parameters. Although the same conclusion could be drawn concerning the kinematic details of kicks on the basis of group data, individual analyses revealed that kinematics in a few infants with PVL were markedly affected by the weighting. Thus, combining group with individual analyses may have additional value in the clinical interpretation of the effects of PVL on the neural functions of young infants.
KW - Infants
KW - Development
KW - Spontaneous kicking
KW - Periventricular leukomalacia
KW - MRI
U2 - 10.1016/S0166-4328(01)00331-X
DO - 10.1016/S0166-4328(01)00331-X
M3 - Journal article
VL - 129
SP - 83
EP - 92
JO - Behavioural Brain Research
JF - Behavioural Brain Research
SN - 0166-4328
IS - 1-2
ER -