Abstract #5569

Novel MRI-compatible foot-sole stimulator for characterizing the cortical regions pertaining to walking-related somatosensory perception

Tingwei Zhang¹, Kai Zhang¹, Yufeng Chai¹, Yunfei Long², Xiaoying Wang³, Junhong Zhou^4,5,6, Brad Manor^4,5,6, Lewis A. Lipsitz^4,5,6, Jue Zhang^1,2, and Jing Fang^1,2

¹Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing, China, ²College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China, ³Department of Radiology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China, ⁴Hebrew SeniorLife Institute for Aging Research, Roslindale, MA, United States, ⁵Division of Gerontology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, United States, ⁶Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States

The decline of foot-sole somatosensation is one of the main contributors to diminished balance of walking. The response of brain regions to the inputs from foot-soles is critical to the somatosensory perception, which, however, remains unknown. Here we developed a dual-drive stimulator applying pressure stimuli that mimic those as experienced during walking on the feet. This stimulator is compatible for MRI and the foot-sole pressure stimuli significantly increases the excitability (i.e., BOLD signal intensity) within multiple brain regions. This stimulator may thus be a novel tool to characterize the brain’s responsiveness in the perception of foot-sole somatosensation pertaining to walking.

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