OBJECTIVETo detect the differences in subcortical structures between patients with paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia (PKD) and normal subjects during movement preparation and execution.

METHODSThe PKD patients performed a movement task, in which a CUE signal (preparation) indicated the movement sequence prior to the appearance of an imperative GO signal (execution). Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and 3dDeconvolve program of AFNI were used to estimate the hemodynamic response function and to generate activation maps.

RESULTDuring movement preparation, the activated brain areas in PKD patients were less than those of normal subject, and there was no activation in basal ganglia in PKD patients. During execution, the activation was also less in PKD patients except in bilateral M1.

CONCLUSIONDuring intermission, abnormalities of the brain still exist in PKD patients when during preparing or performing movement. The movement circuit in the brain displays an unusual state. The attack may be caused by reducing of inhibition in brain areas.

Adult ; Chorea ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Motor Cortex ; physiopathology ; Movement ; physiology

OBJECTIVE: To explore the geomorphological performance, the characteristics of volume, and the largest signal intension of blood oxygenation level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD-fMRI) in brain tumors located in or closed to the central area. METHODS: We recruited 13 normal volunteers and 31(13 benign tumors and 18 malignant tumors) patients with brain tumor located in or closed to the central area, to examine both side hand motor and tactile function by BOLD-fMRI and obtained the activation map and its superposition image with T1 imaging, the volume, and the largest signal intension of the functional area by SPM software which manipulated the raw data in the off-line work station. The volume and the largest signal intension data of the functional area were statistically analyzed by SPSS 13.0. RESULTS: The volume and the largest signal intension of the activation map in the normal functional area had hemisphere advantage. There was difference in the activated signal pixel number and the largest signal intension of the functional area between the benign brain tumors, malignant brain tumors, and the normal volunteers (P < 0.05). The shape, anatomic location, the volume, and the largest signal intension of the functional area were changed in the patients with brain tumors. CONCLUSION BOLD-fMRI is a valid method to assess the pre-surgical risk of patients with brain tumors, which can get the volume, the largest signal intension, the basic shape,and the anatomic location of the functional area.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Brain Neoplasms ; blood ; physiopathology ; Female ; Hand ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; methods ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Motor Cortex ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Oxygen ; blood ; Somatosensory Cortex ; pathology ; physiopathology

Tremor, a rhythmic and involuntary oscillatory movement of one or several body parts, is the movement resulting from the abnormal synchronization of motor neural units. Detecting and analyzing the ACC, EMG and EEG signals of tremor patients by signal processing methods are very important for clinical diagnosis, rating evaluation and detection of incipient illness. This paper introduces the applications of time domain,frequency domain, artificial neural network, high order accumulation, approximate entropy, fuzzy, chaos, discriminant analysis in the researches of tremor signals, and finally points out the application foreground of researches on tremor signals.
Electroencephalography ; methods ; Electromyography ; methods ; Humans ; Motor Cortex ; physiopathology ; Muscle, Skeletal ; physiopathology ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Tremor ; physiopathology

OBJECTIVETo explore the function and motor pathway of remained cerebral hemisphere by studying motor evoked potential of both upper extremities on patients long term after anatomical hemispherectomy.

METHODSFive patients after anatomical hemispherectomy, who were marked 5 dispersive sites on head to perform transcranial magnetic stimulation. Recording motor evoked potential of target muscles (brachioradialis muscle and abductor pollicis brevis) of both upper extremities respectively when muscle resting and contracting.

RESULTSOnly affected abductor pollicis brevis of case 2 and only affected brachioradialis muscle of case 4 and 5 recorded motor evoked potential when muscle resting. Motor evoked potential of some cases can be recorded simultaneously in homonymous muscles of both sides when muscle resting or contracting.

CONCLUSIONSThere exists motor cortex that controls movement of ipsilateral limbs and also ipsilateral motor pathway of corticospinal connection at patients after anatomical hemispherectomy. It also means that the motor function of affected limbs has potency to recover well after hemispherectomy. The mirror movement after hemispherectomy is possible relate to overlap of both limbs' motor cortex.

Adult ; Evoked Potentials, Motor ; physiology ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemispherectomy ; Humans ; Male ; Motor Cortex ; physiopathology ; Postoperative Period ; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ; Upper Extremity ; physiopathology

OBJECTIVEFunctional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to detect the cerebral cortical somatotopy during maximum voluntary clenching with and without soft splint in patients with hemimasticatory spasms (HMS) and the central mechanisms of HMS and the rule of the splint therapy.

METHODSFour HMS patients were selected and the spasms sides were right in two cases and left in the other two cases. FMRI images were obtained on Elscint/GE 2.0 Tesla MR system. Block design was used and the movement pattern was the onset of spasms after maximum voluntary clenching with and without soft splint. The fMRI data were analyzed by SPM99 software.

RESULTSWith the onset of spasms after maximum voluntary clenching, the activation of motor cortex in 3 HMS patients was found lateral dominance on the left side, and the other one showed bilateral activation. All the 4 patients were found activation in cingulate area. With the onset of spasms after maximum clenching wearing soft splints, the activation of motor cortex showed no lateral dominance on the left side, and 3 patients were not found activation in cingulate area.

CONCLUSIONSThe changes of the activation in motor cortex and cingulate area during the onset of spasms after clenching with and without soft splint might be the central mechanisms of the rule of splint therapy, through which the soft splint might function in alleviating muscle pain.

Brain ; physiopathology ; Female ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; methods ; Male ; Masticatory Muscles ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Middle Aged ; Motor Cortex ; physiopathology ; Mouth Protectors ; Muscle Spasticity ; pathology ; physiopathology

Transcranial magnetic stimulation-motor evoked potential (TMS-MEP) test is one of the electrophysiological examination methods to evaluate the function of central nervous system. The value of the TMS-MEP has been recognized by some clinical forensic workers recently. This article reviews the principle and advantages of TMS-MEP and its application in functional evaluation of central nervous system and clinical treatment. The value of TMS-MEP in forensic medicine, especially in objective assessment of muscle strength after injury of central nervous system is also discussed.
Central Nervous System Diseases/physiopathology* ; Disability Evaluation ; Evoked Potentials, Motor/physiology* ; Forensic Medicine/methods* ; Humans ; Monitoring, Physiologic/methods* ; Motor Cortex/physiopathology* ; Muscle, Skeletal/physiopathology* ; Neural Conduction/physiology* ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Severity of Illness Index ; Spinal Cord Injuries/physiopathology* ; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the nitric oxide (NO) levels in rat brain cortex and hippocampus after chronic mild stress.

METHODSSixteen male Sprague-Dawley rats were allocated into control group and model group randomly. Model rats were induced by consecutive chronic mild stress; weight gain, open field test and sucrose solution consumption were investigated before and after procedure. Nitric oxide contents in prefrontal cortex and hippocampus were determined by spectrophotometric assays.

RESULTDecreased locomotion, loss of interest and anhedonia were observed in chronic mild stress rat model group. Nitric oxide contents in prefrontal cortex and hippocampus were significantly higher in chronic mild stress group [(31.00 +/-2.55)nmol/mg.pro and (38.11 +/-1.73)nmol/mg.pro, respectively] than those in control group [(26.97 +/-1.38)nmol/mg.pro and (36.06 +/-0.87)nmol/mg.pro, respectively] (P <0.05).

CONCLUSIONChronic stress can stimulate NO release, and dysfunction of nitric oxide pathway may be involved in development of depression.

Animals ; Cerebral Cortex ; metabolism ; Depression ; etiology ; physiopathology ; Hippocampus ; metabolism ; Male ; Motor Activity ; physiology ; Nitric Oxide ; biosynthesis ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Stress, Psychological ; complications ; physiopathology

The effects of short-term constraint-induced movement (CIM) therapy on the activation of the motor network were investigated with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Movement of the less-affected arms of five patients was restricted and intensive training of the affected upper limb was performed. Functional MRI was acquired before and after two-weeks of CIM therapy. All patients showed significant improvement of motor function in their paretic limbs after CIM therapy. For three patients, new activation in the contralateral motor/premotor cortices was observed after CIM therapy. Increased activation of the ipsilateral motor cortex and SMA was observed in the other patient. Our results demonstrated that plastic changes of the motor network occurred as a neural basis of the improvement subsequent to CIM therapy following brain injury.
Adult ; Cerebrovascular Accident/physiopathology/*rehabilitation/*therapy ; Human ; Middle Aged ; Motor Cortex/*physiology ; Movement ; *Neuronal Plasticity ; *Physical Therapy Techniques ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is associated with enhancement or weakening of the NMDA receptor activity and change of the cortical blood flow. Therefore, repeated tDCS of the brain with cerebrovascular injury will induce the functional and histologic changes. Sixty-one Sprague-Dawley rats with cerebrovascular injury were used. Twenty rats died during the experimental course. The 41 rats that survived were allocated to the exercise group, the anodal stimulation group, the cathodal stimulation group, or the control group according to the initial motor function. Two-week treatment schedules started from 2 days postoperatively. Garcia, modified foot fault, and rota-rod performance scores were checked at 2, 9, and 16 days postoperatively. After the experiments, rats were sacrificed for the evaluation of histologic changes (changes of the white matter axon and infarct volume). The anodal stimulation and exercise groups showed improvement of Garcia's and modified foot fault scores at 16 days postoperatively. No significant change of the infarct volume happened after exercise and tDCS. Neuronal axons at the internal capsule of infarct hemispheres showed better preserved axons in the anodal stimulation group. From these results, repeated tDCS might have a neuroprotective effect on neuronal axons in rat stroke model.
Animals ; Axons/pathology ; Cerebral Cortex/physiology ; Disease Models, Animal ; Electric Stimulation ; Motor Activity/physiology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Stroke/metabolism/*pathology/physiopathology

OBJECTIVETo establish an animal model of Bell palsy induced by type I herpes simplex virus (HSV-1) infection and to assess the role and site of HSV-1 in the pathogenesis of facial paralysis.

METHODSFifty-three female Balb/c mice four-week-old weighted 16-18 g were studied. After scratching the surface of bilateral auricles with a 26-gauge needle, 25 microL HSV-1 with a titer of 6. 7 x 10(7) PFU/ml was inoculated into the right auricle, and the same volume of PBS was placed in the left. As a control, PBS was placed on the bilateral auricles of 4 mice. The HSV-1 DNA in bilateral facial nerve, bilateral brainstem, bilateral trigeminal carrier ganglion, bilateral brain, and blood at different stage was examined with polymerase chain reaction analysis.

RESULTSThirty-seven animals (75.51%) appeared different degree facial paralysis among the 49 inoculated animals. Fourteen facial paralysis (37.84%) were on the right, 3 (8.11%) on the left, and 20 (54.05%) on the bilateral side. Six animals with facial palsy were recovered during 3-13 days, the average recovery time was 7.83 days.

CONCLUSIONSThe existence of HSV-1 in the brainstem and the cerebral cortex is significant for facial paralysis.

Animals ; Bell Palsy ; virology ; Disease Models, Animal ; Female ; Herpes Simplex ; physiopathology ; Herpesvirus 1, Human ; pathogenicity ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Motor Cortex ; virology