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Research Paper|Volume 12, Issue 24|pp 25718—25729

Central motor conduction time in spinocerebellar ataxia: a meta-analysis

Zhi-Chao Tang1, Zhao Chen1,2,3, Yu-Ting Shi1, Lin-Lin Wan1, Ming-Jie Liu1, Xuan Hou1, Chun-Rong Wang5, Hui-Rong Peng1, Lin-Liu Peng1, Rong Qiu6, Bei-Sha Tang1,2,3,4, Hong Jiang1,2,3,4
  • 1Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
  • 2Key Laboratory of Hunan Province in Neurodegenerative Disorders, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
  • 3National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
  • 4Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Central South University, Changsha, China
  • 5Department of Pathology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
  • 6School of Computer Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
Received: July 6, 2020Accepted: September 29, 2020Published: November 20, 2020
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.104181

Copyright: © 2020 Tang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

The dominantly inherited spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) are a large class of neurodegenerative diseases. Transcranial magnetic stimulation has been used to evaluate the function of the pyramidal tract, and central motor conduction time (CMCT) is one index used to detect pyramidal tract dysfunction. We conducted a comprehensive search of PubMed, Embase and Web of Science. Eight eligible studies were included in the meta-analysis. For upper limb CMCT, the mean difference (95% confidence interval (CI)) between the combined SCA group and the control group was 2.24 [1.76-2.72], while the mean differences (95% CIs) between the subtypes and the control group were as follows: 4.43 [3.58-5.28] for SCA1, 0.25 [-0.15,0.65] for SCA2, 1.04 [-0.37,2.46] for SCA3 and 0.49 [-0.29,1.28] for SCA6. Additionally, SCA1 significantly differed from SCA2 and SCA3 in terms of CMCT (P=0.0006 and P=0.010, respectively). We also compared lower limb CMCT between the SCA2 and control groups. The mean difference (95% CI) was 6.58 [4.49-8.67], which was clearly statistically significant. The differences in CMCT values among different subtypes suggests diverse pathological mechanisms. In general, CMCT is a promising objective index to judge the severity of disease deserving further investigation.