Highlights
- •Spontaneous neural activity in patients with BSP was investigated by resting-state fMRI.
- •We found abnormal activity in multiple cortical regions that go beyond the basal ganglia.
- •These findings support the emerging view for involvement of multiple brain regions.
Abstract
Background
Primary blepharospasm (BSP) is characterized by excessive involuntary eyelid spasms
without significant morphological brain abnormalities. Its neural bases remain unclear.
Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) is a powerful tool for
exploring cerebral function mechanisms in BSP.
Methods
Two subject groups (24 patients with BSP and 24 healthy controls) underwent rs-fMRI
scans. The rs-fMRI images were analyzed using the regional homogeneity (ReHo) method
to assess the local features of spontaneous brain activity. Correlation analysis was
carried out to explore the relationship between the ReHo values of abnormal brain
areas and clinical variables including illness duration, symptom severity, and depression/anxiety
symptoms.
Results
Relative to healthy controls, patients with BSP showed significantly decreased ReHo
in the left superior temporal pole/left insula, left calcarine cortex, and bilateral
superior medial frontal gyrus (mSFG), and increased ReHo in the bilateral supplementary
motor area (SMA). There were no significant correlations between ReHo values in these
brain regions and clinical variables in the patients.
Conclusions
Our results suggest that abnormal spontaneous brain activity in multiple brain regions
not limited to the basal ganglia may be trait alterations in the patients, which provides
more insights into the pathogenesis of BSP.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 04, 2019
Accepted:
June 3,
2019
Received in revised form:
May 13,
2019
Received:
December 23,
2018
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
