Table 3.
Narrative synthesis of neuroplastic outcomes from pre- to post-intervention.
| Reference | Quality | Method used to measure neuroplasticity | Specification of signaling type or brain area/s | Direction of change from pre to post-intervention | MA∗ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angelucci et al. | 13 | Blood sampling, BDNF serum concentration | 0 | Yes | ||
| Fontanesi et al. | 14 | Blood sampling, TrkB signaling in lymphocytes | pY-TrkB (145 kDa) | + | No | |
| pY-TrkB (95 kDa) | 0 | No | ||||
| NR1 | + | No | ||||
| Frazzitta et al. | 20 | Blood sampling, BDNF serum concentration | + | Yes | ||
| Zoladz et al. | 15 | Blood sampling, BDNF serum concentration | + | Yes | ||
|
| ||||||
| Activity change from pre to post-intervention | ||||||
| Batson et al. | 6 | fMRI, BOLD signal | Connection between anterior and posterior aspects of Default Mode Network | + | + | No |
| Connection between basal ganglia and premotor cortex | + | + | No | |||
| Duchesne et al. | 14 | fMRI, BOLD signal | Temporal lobes | + | + | No |
| Left ventral striatum | + | + | No | |||
| Left hippocampus | + | + | No | |||
| Cerebellum (lobules 8 and 9 bilaterally and right crus) | + | + | No | |||
| Maidan et al. | 15 | fMRI, BOLD signal | Middle temporal gyrus | − | + | No |
| Shah et al. | 14 | fMRI, BOLD signal | Connection between active motor cortex and ipsilateral thalamus | + | + | No |
| Carvalho et al. | 16 | EEG, mean frequency | No significance given to area | + | + | No |
| Fisher et al. [25] | 14 | TMS, CSP duration | CSP-duration in both hemispheres | + | + | No |
| Fisher et al. (2013) | 16 | PET, metabolic activity | Dorsal putamen | + | + | No |
| del Olmo et al. | 13 | PET, metabolic activity | Right cerebellum | + | + | No |
| Right parietal lobe | + | + | No | |||
| Right temporal lobe | + | + | No | |||
|
| ||||||
| Volume change from pre to post-intervention | ||||||
| Sehm et al. | 15 | MRI | Right hemisphere of cerebellum∗∗ | + | + | No |
References in bold are of RCT design. Overall quality score assessed with the modified Down and Black checklist, ranging from 0 to 28 with higher scores indicating higher overall quality. Activity and volume indicate whether a change in respective measure increased (+) or decreased (−). Direction indicates change in neuroplastic marker from pre to post-intervention and states whether it was assessed as positive (+), negative (−), or unchanged (0). ∗ indicates whether the study was included in the meta-analysis (MA). ∗∗ as compared to healthy control group. Abbreviations: BDNF—Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor; TrkB—Tyrosine receptor kinase B; fMRI—Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; BOLD—Blood Oxygenated Level Dependent; EEG—Electroencephalogram; TMS—Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; CSP—Cortical Silent Period; PET—Positron Emission Tomography.