Grey and white matter plasticity during motor-skill learning: a longitudinal diffusion MRI study

Motivation: MRI studies have demonstrated plastic changes in grey and white matter (GM/WM) during motor skill learning. However, diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) might provide additional complementary information in contrast to multi-parametric mapping (MPM), which has been investigated previously. Goal(s): To investigate training-induced neuroplasticity using dMRI and contextualize them to the MPM findings. Approach: Acquisition of longitudinal dMRI and MPM during motor skill learning. Results: We observed overlapping changes in dMRI and MPM metrics following motor skill learning. dMRI was thereby able to capture additional changes within the WM, whereas within the GM, some findings were unique to the MPM protocol. Impact: dMRI and MPM metrics are sensitive to motor skill learning-induced changes in GM and WM. To combine the two methodologies advances our capability in detecting neuroplasticity changes and might be beneficial for patient rehabilitation.