Projects
Combination of tactile and motor training of the hand
The somatosensory cortex responds to repetitive tactile stimulation with an increase of the somatotopic representation areas. The primary somatosensory cortex is tightly connected with the primary motor cortex and somatosensory training preceding motor training is capable to enhance effects of motor training. We are currently performing experiments on healthy subjects investigating these effects on performance and changes on somatosensory and motor representation.
Latest publication in NeuroImage: Haertner J.*, Strauss S.*, Pfannmoeller J.*, Lotze M.*, *equal contribution (2021) Tactile acuity of fingertips and hand representation size in Area 3b of the primary somatosensory cortex. Neuroimage, in press.
Representation of the fingertips in the left primarily somatosensory cortex (area 3b) using 3T MRI with blue: little finger and red: thumb (each point a participant. Right: Distances between the two fingers on the cortex surface.
Projects in the field:
1) Plasticity in the sensorimotor cortex after hypoglossus-facialis anastomosis
Cooperation project with Prof. H. Schröder, Neurosurgery Greifswald.
Literature:
Rottler P., Schroeder H., Lotze M. (2014) Outcome-dependent coactivation of lip and tongue primary somatosensory representation following hypoglossal-facial transfer after peripheral facial palsy. Human Brain Mapping, 35(2):638-45.
2) Somatosensory plasticity and representation
Project in cooperation with the hand surgery in Greifswald (Dr. I. Langner) and Max Planck Institute Göttingen (Dr. R. Schweitzer). Main researcher in Greifswald: Dr. Jörg Pfannmöller.
Literature:
Oelschläger M, Pfannmöller J, Langner I, Lotze M. (2014) Usage of the middle finger shapes reorganization of the primary somatosensory cortex in patients with index finger amputation. Rest Neurol Neurosci. 32(4): 507-515.
Pfannmöller J, Schweitzer, R, Lotze M. (2015) An Automated Analysis Protocol for high resolution BOLD-fMRI Mapping of the Fingertip Somatotopy in Brodmann Area 3b. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 43(2):479-86.
Pfannmöller J.P., Greiner, M., Balasubramanian M., Lotze M. (2016) Precise evaluation of primary functional somatosensory representation using high resolution fMRI. Neuroscience, 339:667-677.
Pfannmöller J. Strauss S., Langner I., Usichenko T., Lotze M. (2019) Unilateral Altered Correlations in the Sensorimotor Cortex of Upper Limb CRPS I Patients, Restaurative Neurologie and Neuroscience 37 (2), 143-153.
3) Sensory priming of motor training
Cooperation between the Department of Neuroinformatics, University of Bochum, the Functional Imaging Department and the Neurorehabilitation Hospital (BDH).
Participants: Marie Ladda, Hubert Dinse, Jörg Pfannmöller, Andrea Walz, Martin Lotze, Sybille Roschka, Thomas Platz.
Literature:
Ladda AM, Pfannmöller JP, Kalisch T, Roschka S, Platz T, Dinse HR, Lotze M. (2013) Effects of combining 2 weeks of passive sensory stimulation with active hand motor training in healthy adults. PlosOne, 9(1):e84402.
Lotze, M., Ladda, A-M., Roschka, S., Platz, T., Dinse, H.R. (2016) Priming hand motor training with repetitive electric stimulation of the finger tips; performance gain and neural training effects. Brain Stimulation, in press.
4) Investigations with our 7 Tesla animal scanner on high spatial resolution imaging in the mouse
Literature:
von Bohlen und Halbach O, Lotze M, Pfannmöller JP (2014) Post-mortem magnetic resonance microscopy (MRM) of the murine brain at 7 Tesla results in a gain of resolution as compared to in-vivo MRM, Frontiers in Neuroanatomy, 8:47.
Koschützke L, Bertram J, Hartmann B, Lotze M, Bartsch D, von Bohlen und Halbach O. (2015) SrGAP3 knockout mice display enlarges lateral ventricles and specific cilia distur-bances of ependymal cells in the third ventricle, Cell & Tissue Research, 361(2):645-50.
Bertram, J., Koschützke, L., Pfannmöller, J., Esche, J., van Diepen, L., Kuss, A., Hartmann, B., Bartsch, D., Lotze, M., von Bohlen und Halbach, O. (2016) Morphological and behavioral characterization of adult mice deficient for SrGAP3, Cell & Tissue Research, in press.
