Functional magnetic resonance imaging of active and passive hand movement

Objective To assess differences in brain activation between active and passive movement of the right hand using blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging （BOLD-fMRI）. Methods Nine healthy adult right handed volunteers were studied. fMRI was performed with active and passive finger-to-finger movement. Results Right hand active and passive movement produced significant activation in the contralateral sensorimotor cortex （ SMC ）, the contralateral premotor cortex （ PMC ）, bilaterally in the supplementary motor area （SMA） and in the ipsilateral cerebellum. The activated brain areas were centered on the contralateral SMC and PMC and located more forward during active movement than during passive movement. The contralateral SMC was the most strongly and the most frequently activated brain area. The contralateral posterior parietal cortex （PPC） was less relevant to the hand movements. Unlike active movement, passivemovement activated more areas in the posterior central gyrus than in the anterior central gyrus. Conclusions Both active and passive movement significantly activate the brain areas which are responsible for hand movement, but there are some differences in the locations of the cortex areas activated and in the incidence activation except in the contralateral SMC. Key words: Functional magnetic resonance imaging;  Active movement ;  Passive movement ;  Sensorimotor cortex;  Premotor cortex;  Supplementary motor areas