Multimodal investigation of cerebello-thalamo-cortical connectivity in cervical dystonia
Final Report Abstract
In recent years, a network model for dystonia has been proposed that includes apart from the basal ganglia and the motor cortex also the cerebellum. In the present project, we thoroughly investigated the role of the cerebellum in patients with isolated cervical dystonia (CD) with non-invasive brain stimulation techniques and cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Transcranial direct current stimulation was applied over the cerebellum to probe the influence of the cerebellum on sensorimotor plasticity. Increased sensorimotor plasticity has been reported in previous studies in dystonia. We were able to demonstrate that the cerebellar modulation of sensorimotor plasticity was impaired in CD patients. Brain MRI did not reveal structural changes of the cerebellum in CD, but the structure of network nodes (dentate nucleus, thalamus, primary motor cortex) between the cerebellum and motor cortex was altered. The structural alterations in this network were attributed to a reduced cortical thickness of the motor cortex. There was no association between symptom severity and neurophysiological parameters or MRI structure. The present results support the notion that the cerebellum and the cerebello-thalamo-cortical network are relevant in the pathophysiology of dystonia and highlight that cerebellar modulation of afferent sensory input is impaired.
Publications
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Cerebellar Modulation of Sensorimotor Associative Plasticity Is Impaired in Cervical Dystonia. Movement Disorders, 38(11), 2084-2093.
Grimm, Kai; Prilop, Lisa; Schön, Gerhard; Gelderblom, Mathias; Misselhorn, Jonas; Gerloff, Christian & Zittel, Simone
