The White Matter Microstructure Of Shooting Athletes: Quantitative Analysis With Diffusion Tensor Imaging

Objectives:To explore the effect of motor skill training on white matter microstructure of athletes, We described the fractional anisotropy(FA) and average diffusion coeffecient (DCavg) of white matter microstructure of excellent Shooting athletes in diffusion tensor imaging technology with 1.5 Tesla MR scanner;and correlated the variation of DTI parameters with the onset age of motor skill training..Methods:Choose 20 Professional Shooters of shanxi province, all athletes had started motor training from 11 to 18 years old and with an average dairy professional practice time of at least 6 hours; and choose 20 non-athletes as control subjects, the control group was not involved in any motor skill training. Two groups were age and gender matched. All the subjects were right-handed. No subjects had any lifetime histories of mental disorder, craniocerebral trauma and organic disease. All subjects were examined with GE Signa Excite 1.5 using 8 channels head coil. To exclude unknown pathological changes in brain, all subjects were enforced routine MR sequence, including T1WI,T2WI,FLAIR.DTI date were acquired with single-shot,spin-echo echo-plannar (SE-EPI) sequence,b value equal to 1000 s/mm2,25-direction. we received FA map and MD map using functool software processing DTI date on 4.3 offered by GE company. For each subject, genu,splenium,body of corpos callosum and CST pathway at the level of posterior limb of the internal capsule,cerebral peduncle were selected as regions of interest ( ROIs). The values of fractional anisotropy (FA) and average diffusion coeffecient (DCavg) of each ROI were measured. Group comparisons between the athlete and the control group for each ROI were based on independent samples t-test; If there were statistically significant between the two groups, relationships between DTI measures and the onset age of motor training in each ROI were examined by calculating Pearson correlations; hemispheric laterality effects were examined using paired samples t-test.Results:1.The athletes group showed significantly higher FA value than controls in the boby of corpus callosumm in both sides and in the right CST pathway at the level of posterior limb of the internal capsule, while FA value of genu,splenium of corpos callosum in both sides and the left CST pathway at the level of posterior limb of the internal capsule,the CST pathway at the level of cerebral peduncle In both sides were not statistically significant.2.There were no significant changes in DCavg value of every ROI. 3.The FA value of body of corpua callosum in both sides showed significant negative correlation with the onset training age. However, the correlation of FA value with the onset training age did not reach statistically significance in the right CST pathway at the level of posterior limb of the internal capsule, which showed a descending tendency.4.The differences of FA/MD in symmetrical positions between the right side and the left side were not statistically significant in both athletes group and control group.Conclusions:The white matter microstructure of Professional Shooters is different from non-athletes. Motor skill practice may lead to white matter adaptation in movement-related regions,and the overall susceptibility to such plasticity is high within the pristine developmental periods. The theory of motor skill training-induced white matter plastic changes are likely to provide the possible evidence of brain science for the excellent Shooting athletes' stronger fine and coordinated motion, and provide new evidence and evocation for the treatment of the disease of Motor disfunction.