Therapeutic acute intermittent hypoxia alters supraspinal neural control of lower limb movement in multiple sclerosis

In 23 adults with multiple sclerosis, acute intermittent hypoxia increased task-evoked activation in basal ganglia, thalamus, and cortical motor regions during left-foot movement, with right-foot effects showing sub-threshold patterns.

• Why it matters: Walking impairment drives disability in MS, but whether acute intermittent hypoxia improves lower-limb motor control through supraspinal circuitry is unknown.
• What they did: In a sham-controlled, double-blind crossover trial (NCT05164705), participants completed 5 AIH sessions and 5 sham sessions, with BOLD fMRI during repeated plantar- and dorsi-flexion collected before and after each arm.
• The result: AIH altered supraspinal motor network activity differently by foot, suggesting subcortical changes may contribute to motor improvements and implicating the basal ganglia–thalamo-cortical motor loop as a neuroplasticity target.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.