Connectome analysis of male world-class gymnasts using probabilistic multishell, multitissue constrained spherical deconvolution tracking.

ABSTRACT: In athletes, long-term intensive training has been shown to increase unparalleled athletic ability and might induce brain plasticity. We evaluated the structural connectome of world-class gymnasts (WCGs), as mapped by diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging probabilistic tractography and a multishell, multitissue constrained spherical deconvolution method to increase the precision of tractography at the tissue interfaces. The connectome was mapped in 10 Japanese male WCGs and in 10 age-matched male controls. Network-based statistic identified subnetworks with increased connectivity density in WCGs, involving the sensorimotor, default mode, attentional, visual, and limbic areas. It also revealed a significant association between the structural connectivity of some brain structures wit

SUBMITTER: Tomita H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9541483 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature