Abstract
Aging is the major risk factor for chronic age-related neurological diseases such as neurodegenerative disorders and neurovascular injuries. Exploiting the multimodal nature of the Mirror Neuron System (MNS), rehabilitative interventions have been proposed based on motor-resonance mechanisms in recent years. Despite the considerable evidence of the MNS’ functionality in young adults, further investigation of the action-observation matching system is required in aging, where well-known structural and functional brain changes occur. Twenty-one healthy young adults (mean age 26.66y) and 19 healthy elderly participants (mean age 71.47y) underwent a single MRI evaluation including a T1-3D high-resolution and functional MRI (fMRI) with mirror task. Morphological and functional BOLD data were derived from MRI images to highlight cortical activations associated with the task; to detect differences between the two groups (Young, Elderly) in the two MRI indexes (BOLD and thickness z-scores) using mixed factorial ANOVA (Group∗Index analyses); and to investigate the presence of different cortical lateralization of the BOLD signal in the two groups. In the entire sample, the activation of a bilateral MNS fronto-parietal network was highlighted. The mixed ANOVA (pFDR-corr < 0.05) revealed significant interactions between BOLD signal and cortical thickness in left dorsal premotor cortex, right ventral premotor and prefrontal cortices. A different cortical lateralization of the BOLD signal in frontal lobe activity between groups was also found. Data herein reported suggest that age-related cortical thinning of the MNS is coupled with increased interhemispheric symmetry along with premotor and prefrontal cortex recruitment. These physiological changes of MNS resemble the aging of the motor and cognitive neural systems, suggesting specific but also common aging and compensatory mechanisms.
Highlights
Mirror neurons are a neural population discovered in the ventral premotor cortex of the monkey (di Pellegrino et al, 1992; Gallese et al, 1996; Rizzolatti et al, 1996a) discharging during action execution and during action observation, configuring a movement observation-execution matching system
To detect the activation of the Mirror Neuron System (MNS), Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) results are explored with the conjunction contrast (t contrast 3.20; k = 50; p < 0.001unc) showing activation of a bilateral fronto-parietal network formed by the inferior parietal lobule, intraparietal sulcus, postcentral
Our aim was to explore the functional and structural modifications occurring in the MNS during normal aging
Summary
Mirror neurons are a neural population discovered in the ventral premotor cortex of the monkey (di Pellegrino et al, 1992; Gallese et al, 1996; Rizzolatti et al, 1996a) discharging during action execution and during action observation, configuring a movement observation-execution matching system. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies provided several evidences for the existence of a Mirror Neuron System (MNS) in humans as well (Hardwick et al, 2018). The MNS operates through a motor resonance mechanism that implies the understanding of the meaning of a gesture through an internal reproduction of the same action in the observer (Fadiga et al, 1995; Strafella and Paus, 2000; Borroni et al, 2005; Borroni and Baldissera, 2008). New rehabilitative interventions for age-related pathologies such as stroke and Parkinson’s disease have been proposed based on the motor resonance mechanism activated by the MNS (Ertelt et al, 2007; Buccino, 2014; Farina et al, 2020). The comprehension of the mechanisms involved in aging of the MNS is relevant to implement effective rehabilitation programs for age-related pathologies
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