fMRI Visualization of Functional Patterns of Neural Networks during the Performance of Cyclic Finger Movements: Age-Related Peculiarities

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we visualized patterns of activity of neural macronetworks in healthy humans during the performance of cyclic finger movements and studied agerelated peculiarities of these patterns. Three age groups of subjects (7 to 86 years old) were examined. The paradigm of activation corresponded to simple repeated test movements of touching of the fingerpads of the forefinger and thumb of the right hand. We analyzed patterns of activation, deactivation, and functional connectivity of the brain sensorimotor, default, and frontoparietal networks. Schemes of activation of zones of the primary and associative sensorimotor cortex related to the test task performance by subjects of different ages were rather similar to each other. Concurrently with the processes of activation of the sensorimotor network, we observed partial deactivation of certain nodi of the default mode network and formation of functional connectivity between some such nodi. The obtained data confirm the statement that the default mode network is heterogeneous; different parts of this network can simultaneously demonstrate desynchronization and autonomic functioning. There are reasons to believe that, in the junior age, the functional connectivity of zones corresponding to the default mode network had been formed incompletely. We found the functional connectivity of the frontoparietal neural network consisting of parts of the parietal cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices of both cerebral hemispheres. In elderly subjects, the functional connectivity between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of the left hemisphere and other parts of the frontoparietal neural network is weakened.

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