Subcortical functional connectivity and its association with walking performance following deployment related mild TBI

Mary R Newsome; Sarah L Martindale; Nicholas Davenport; Emily L Dennis; Marlene Diaz; Carrie Esopenko; Cooper Hodges; George R Jackson; Qisheng Liu; Kimbra Kenney; Andrew R Mayer; Jared A Rowland; Randall S Scheibel; Joel L Steinberg; Brian A Taylor; David F Tate; J Kent Werner; William C Walker; Elisabeth A Wilde

doi:10.3389/fneur.2023.1276437

Subcortical functional connectivity and its association with walking performance following deployment related mild TBI

Front Neurol. 2023 Dec 14:14:1276437. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2023.1276437. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Mary R Newsome^{1

2

3}, Sarah L Martindale^{4

5

6}, Nicholas Davenport^{7

8}, Emily L Dennis^{1

2}, Marlene Diaz⁹, Carrie Esopenko¹⁰, Cooper Hodges¹¹, George R Jackson^{12

13}, Qisheng Liu^{9

14}, Kimbra Kenney¹⁵, Andrew R Mayer^{16

17}, Jared A Rowland^{4

5

18}, Randall S Scheibel^{3

9}, Joel L Steinberg¹⁹, Brian A Taylor²⁰, David F Tate^{1

2}, J Kent Werner^{15

21}, William C Walker²², Elisabeth A Wilde^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Research Service Line, George E. Wahlen VA Medical Center, Salt Lake City, UT, United States.
² Traumatic Brain Injury and Concussion Center, Department of Neurology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States.
³ H. Ben Taub Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States.
⁴ Research and Academic Affairs Service Line, W. G. (Bill) Hefner VA Healthcare System, Salisbury, NC, United States.
⁵ Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISN)-6 Mid-Atlantic Mental Illness, Research Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), Durham, NC, United States.
⁶ Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States.
⁷ Research Service Line, Minneapolis VA Health Care System, Minneapolis, MN, United States.
⁸ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States.
⁹ Research Service Line, Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Houston, TX, United States.
¹⁰ Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance, Icahn School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States.
¹¹ Department of Psychology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, United States.
¹² Parkinson's Disease Research, Education and Clinical Center (PADRECC), Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, TX, United States.
¹³ Department of Neurology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States.
¹⁴ Center for Translational Research on Inflammatory Diseases (CTRID), Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States.
¹⁵ Department of Neurology, Uniform Services University, Bethesda, MD, United States.
¹⁶ The Mind Research Network/Lovelace Biomedical and Environmental Research Institute, Albuquerque, NM, United States.
¹⁷ Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Psychology and Neurology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, United States.
¹⁸ Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States.
¹⁹ Department of Psychiatry, Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, United States.
²⁰ Department of Imaging Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, United States.
²¹ National Intrepid Center of Excellence, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD, United States.
²² Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, United States.

Abstract

Introduction: The relation between traumatic brain injury (TBI), its acute and chronic symptoms, and the potential for remote neurodegenerative disease is a priority for military research. Structural and functional connectivity (FC) of the basal ganglia, involved in motor tasks such as walking, are altered in some samples of Service Members and Veterans with TBI, but any behavioral implications are unclear and could further depend on the context in which the TBI occurred.

Methods: In this study, FC from caudate and pallidum seeds was measured in Service Members and Veterans with a history of mild TBI that occurred during combat deployment, Service Members and Veterans whose mild TBI occurred outside of deployment, and Service Members and Veterans who had no lifetime history of TBI.

Results: FC patterns differed for the two contextual types of mild TBI. Service Members and Veterans with deployment-related mild TBI demonstrated increased FC between the right caudate and lateral occipital regions relative to both the non-deployment mild TBI and TBI-negative groups. When evaluating the association between FC from the caudate and gait, the non-deployment mild TBI group showed a significant positive relationship between walking time and FC with the frontal pole, implicated in navigational planning, whereas the deployment-related mild TBI group trended towards a greater negative association between walking time and FC within the occipital lobes, associated with visuo-spatial processing during navigation.

Discussion: These findings have implications for elucidating subtle motor disruption in Service Members and Veterans with deployment-related mild TBI. Possible implications for future walking performance are discussed.

Keywords: basal ganglia; deployment (military); functional connectivity; globus pallidus; movement disorders; service members and veterans; subcortical; traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Abstract

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