PURPOSE: To identify the brain centers associated with visually evoked sexual arousal in the human brain, and to investigate the neural mechanism for sexual arousal using functional MRI (fMRI). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 20 sexually potent volunteers consisting of 10 males (mean age: 24) and 10 females (mean age: 23) underwent fMRI on a 1.5 T MR scanner (GE Signa Horizon). The fMRI data were obtained from 7 slices (10 mm slice thickness) parallel to the AC-PC (anterior commissure and posterior commissure) line, giving a total of 511 MR images. The sexual stimulation consisted of a 1-minute rest with black screen, followed by a 4-minute stimulation by an erotic video film, and concluded with a 2-minute rest. The brain activation maps and their quantification were analyzed by the statistical parametric mapping (SPM 99) program. RESULTS: The brain activation regions associated with visual sexual arousal in the limbic system are the posterior cingulate gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, hypothalamus, medial cingulate gyrus, thalamus, amygdala, anterior cingulate gyrus, insula, hippocampus, caudate nucleus, globus pallidus and putamen. Especially, the parahippocampal gyrus, cingulate gyrus, thalamus and hypothalamus were highly activated in comparison with other areas. The overall activities of the limbic lobe, diencephalon, and basal ganglia were 11.8%, 10.5%, and 3.4%, respectively. In the correlation test between brain activity and sexual arousal, the hypothalamus and thalamus showed positive correlation, but the other brain areas showed no correlation. CONCLUSION: The fMRI is useful to quantitatively evaluate the cerebral activation associated with visually evoked, sexual arousal in the human brain. This result may be helpful by providing clinically valuable information on sexual disorder in humans as well as by increasing the understanding of the neuroanatomical correlates of sexual arousal.
Amygdala ; Arousal* ; Basal Ganglia ; Brain ; Caudate Nucleus ; Diencephalon ; Female ; Globus Pallidus ; Gyrus Cinguli ; Hippocampus ; Humans ; Hypothalamus ; Hypothalamus, Middle ; Limbic System* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Male ; Parahippocampal Gyrus ; Putamen ; Thalamus ; Volunteers

OBJECTIVE: To investigate association between lesion location on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) performed after an infarction and the duration of dysphagia in middle cerebral artery (MCA) infarction. METHODS: A videofluoroscopic swallowing study was performed for 59 patients with dysphagia who were diagnosed as cerebral infarction of the MCA territory confirmed by brain MRI. Lesions were divided into 11 regions of interest: primary somatosensory cortex, primary motor cortex, supplementary motor cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, parieto-occipital cortex, insular cortex, posterior limb of the internal capsule (PLIC), thalamus, basal ganglia (caudate nucleus), and basal ganglia (putamen). Recovery time was defined as the period from the first day of L-tube feeding to the day that rice porridge with thickening agent was prescribed. Recovery time and brain lesion patterns were compared and analyzed. RESULTS: The mean recovery time of all patients was 26.71±16.39 days. The mean recovery time was 36.65±15.83 days in patients with PLIC lesions and 32.6±17.27 days in patients with caudate nucleus lesions. Only these two groups showed longer recovery time than the average recovery time for all patients. One-way analysis of variance for recovery time showed significant differences between patients with and without lesions in PLIC and caudate (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Injury to both PLIC and caudate nucleus is associated with longer recovery time from dysphagia.
Basal Ganglia ; Brain ; Caudate Nucleus ; Cerebral Cortex ; Cerebral Infarction ; Deglutition ; Deglutition Disorders ; Extremities ; Gyrus Cinguli ; Humans ; Infarction ; Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery ; Internal Capsule ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Middle Cerebral Artery ; Motor Cortex ; Prefrontal Cortex ; Somatosensory Cortex ; Thalamus

OBJECTIVE: To investigate neural correlates associated with recovery of motor function over 6 months in patients with basal ganglia (BG) stroke using acetazolamide (ACZ) stress brain-perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). METHODS: Medical records of 22 patients presenting first-ever BG stroke were retrospectively reviewed. Regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebrovascular reserve (CVR) were measured for 9 regions in each cerebral hemisphere (primary motor cortex, supplementary motor area, premotor cortex, prefrontal cortex, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, BG, and thalamus). The Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) motor score was used to assess motor function. RESULTS: After ACZ injection, CBF of all regions of interest (ROIs) increased compared with baseline. Baseline CBF of all ROIs was not significantly correlated with changes in FMA upper or lower motor score. However, multivariate analysis revealed CVR was significantly associated with change in FMA upper score in the ipsilateral primary motor cortex (R2=0.216, p=0.017), the ipsilateral parietal lobe (R2=0.135, p=0.029), and the contralateral primary motor cortex (R2=0.210, p=0.041). CONCLUSION: CVR in the bilateral primary motor cortex and ipsilateral parietal lobe was associated with restoration of upper motor function 6 months after BG stroke. SPECT is a readily available imaging modality useful in studying brain residual function in patients with BG stroke.
Acetazolamide ; Basal Ganglia* ; Brain ; Cerebrovascular Circulation ; Cerebrum ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Motor Cortex ; Multivariate Analysis ; Occipital Lobe ; Parietal Lobe ; Prefrontal Cortex ; Recovery of Function ; Retrospective Studies ; Stroke* ; Temporal Lobe ; Tomography, Emission-Computed ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*

OBJECTIVE: To investigate neural correlates associated with recovery of motor function over 6 months in patients with basal ganglia (BG) stroke using acetazolamide (ACZ) stress brain-perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). METHODS: Medical records of 22 patients presenting first-ever BG stroke were retrospectively reviewed. Regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebrovascular reserve (CVR) were measured for 9 regions in each cerebral hemisphere (primary motor cortex, supplementary motor area, premotor cortex, prefrontal cortex, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, BG, and thalamus). The Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) motor score was used to assess motor function. RESULTS: After ACZ injection, CBF of all regions of interest (ROIs) increased compared with baseline. Baseline CBF of all ROIs was not significantly correlated with changes in FMA upper or lower motor score. However, multivariate analysis revealed CVR was significantly associated with change in FMA upper score in the ipsilateral primary motor cortex (R2=0.216, p=0.017), the ipsilateral parietal lobe (R2=0.135, p=0.029), and the contralateral primary motor cortex (R2=0.210, p=0.041). CONCLUSION: CVR in the bilateral primary motor cortex and ipsilateral parietal lobe was associated with restoration of upper motor function 6 months after BG stroke. SPECT is a readily available imaging modality useful in studying brain residual function in patients with BG stroke.
Acetazolamide ; Basal Ganglia* ; Brain ; Cerebrovascular Circulation ; Cerebrum ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Motor Cortex ; Multivariate Analysis ; Occipital Lobe ; Parietal Lobe ; Prefrontal Cortex ; Recovery of Function ; Retrospective Studies ; Stroke* ; Temporal Lobe ; Tomography, Emission-Computed ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*

The organization of the striatal projection fibers from the hippocampal formation (HF) was studied in the monkey with particular emphasis on specific projections of the ventral striatum. Retrograde tracers were injected into the five different regions of the ventral striatum such as the ventromedial caudate nucleus, ventral shell, central shell, and dorsal core of the nucleus accumbens (NA), and ventrolateral putamen. The ventromedial caudate nucleus and the shell of the NA received dense projections from the HF. Although the ventromedial caudate nucleus and the shell of the NA are both innervated by the HF, the shell receives the larger of these projections. This suggests that the HF is more strongly connected with the shell of the NA than with the ventromedial caudate nucleus. There are no differences between the ventral shell and central shell of the NA. Labeled neurons were mainly observed in the rostral parts of the dorsomedial CA1 and adjacent subicular complex (prosubiculum, subiculum, presubiculum, and parasubiculum) of the HF. These results suggest that the shell of the NA is the main converging site receiving hippocampal projections primarily related to integrating visuospatial and limbic information.
Basal Ganglia* ; Caudate Nucleus ; Haplorhini ; Hippocampus ; Neurons ; Nucleus Accumbens ; Primates* ; Putamen

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to compare cortical amyloid deposition using 18F-florbetaben and positron emission tomography (PET) in healthy controls and subjects with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). METHODS: We investigated 25 patients : 10 age-matched healthy controls, 10 patients with aMCI and 5 with AD. All participants underwent PET after intravenous injection of 300 MBq of 18F-florbetaben. The 90 min post-injection brain PET data were analysed using statistical parametric mapping. RESULTS: When compared to healthy controls, amyloid deposition was significantly higher in frontal lobe medial frontal gyrus, limbic lobe posterior cingulate, parietal lobe precuneus, sub-loba insula, temporal lobe superior temporal gyrus, parietal lobe inferior parietal lobule, temporal lobe middle temporal gyrus, parietal lobe supramarginal gyrus, occipital lobe middle temporal gyrus of patient group (family wise error correction p<0.05). CONCLUSION: These results indicate 18F-florbetaben to be an efficacious β-amyloid-targeted tracer. Subjects with aMCI, AD could be easily differentiated from healthy controls by assessment of the PET data.
Alzheimer Disease* ; Amyloid* ; Brain ; Frontal Lobe ; Gyrus Cinguli ; Humans ; Injections, Intravenous ; Limbic Lobe ; Mild Cognitive Impairment* ; Occipital Lobe ; Parietal Lobe ; Plaque, Amyloid ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Prefrontal Cortex ; Temporal Lobe

Paralimbic association area in the temporal pole is situated between sensory association areas and the limbic regions and has direct connections with these areas and the ventral striatum. Corticostriatal connections of paralimbic association area in the temporal pole were studied with particular emphasis on specific projections of the ventral striatum to identify different contributions to the functional outcome of the ventral striatum. Retrograde tracers were injected into the five different regions of the ventral striatum such as the ventromedial caudate nucleus, ventral shell, central shell, dorsal core of the nucleus accumbens (NA), and ventrolateral putamen to identify the labeled cells of origin. Present results indicate that the temporal pole has specifically dense projections to the ventral shell of NA. This differential pattern of corticostriatal connectivity suggests that ventral shell region of ventral striatum is preferentially involved in the convergence of sensory and limbic stimulus to motivational and emotional states.
Basal Ganglia ; Caudate Nucleus ; Nucleus Accumbens ; Primates* ; Putamen

As it has been reported that the depolarization induced acetylcholine (ACh) release is modulated by activation of presynaptic A-1 adenosine heteroreceptor and various evidence suggest that indicate the A-2 adenosine receptor is present in the striatum, this study was undertaken to delineate the role of adenosine receptors on the striatal ACh release. Slices from the rat striatum were equilibrated with (3H)choline and then the release amount of the labelled product, (3H)ACh, which was evoked by electrical stimulation (rectangular pulses, 3 Hz, 2 ms, 24 mA, 5 Vcm-1, 2 min), was measured, and the influence of various agents on the evoked tritium outflow was investigated. And also, quantitative receptor autoradiography and drug-receptor binding assay were performed in order to confirm the presence and characteristics of A-1 and A-2 adenosine receptors in the rat striatum. Adenosine (10 ~ 100 micrometer) and N-6-cyclopentyladenosine (CPA, 1 ~ 100 micrometer) decreased the (3H)ACh release in a dose-dependent manner without changing the basal rate of release in the rat striatum. The reducing effects of ACh release by adenosine and CPA were abolished by 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropy-lxanthine (DPCPX, 2 micrometer), a selective A-1 adenosine receptor antagonist, treatment. The effect of adenosine was potentiated markedly by 3,7-dimethyl-1-propargylxanthine (DMPX, 10 micrometer), a specific A-2 adenosine receptor antagonist. 2-P-(2-carboxyethyl)phenethylamimo-5'-N- ethylcarboxamidoadenosine hydrochloride (CGS-21680C), in concentrations ranging from 0.01 to 10 micrometer, a recently introduced potent A-2 adenosine receptor agonist, increased the(3 H)ACh release in a dose related fashion without changing the basal rate of release. These effects were completely abolished by DMPX (10 micrometer). In autoradiogaphy experiments, (3H)2-chloro-N-6-cyclopentyladenosine ((3 H)CCPA) bindings were highly localized in the hippocampus and the cerebral cortex. Additionally, lower levels of binding were found in the striatum. However, (3H)CGS-21680C bindings were highly localized in the striatal region with the greatest density of binding found in the caudate nucleus and putamen. Lower levels of binding were also found in the nucleus accumbens and olfactory tubercle. In drug-receptor binding assay, binding of (3H)CCPA to A-1 adenosine receptors of rat striatal membranes was inhibited by CPA (K-i = 1.6nM) and N-ethylcarboxamidoadenosine (NECA, K-i = 12.9 nM), but not by CGS-21680C (K-i = 2609.2 nM) and DMPX (K-i = 19,386 nM). In contrast, (3H)CGS-21680C binding to A-2 adenosine receptors was inhibited by CGS-21680C (K-i = 47.6 rim) and NECA (K-i = 44.9 nM), but not by CPA (K-i = 2099.2 nM) and DPCPX (K-i = 19,207 nM). The results presented here suggest that both types of A-1 and A-2 adenosine heteroreceptors exist and play an important role in ACh release in the rat striatal cholinergic neurons.
Acetylcholine* ; Adenosine* ; Adenosine-5'-(N-ethylcarboxamide) ; Animals ; Autoradiography ; Caudate Nucleus ; Cerebral Cortex ; Cholinergic Neurons ; Electric Stimulation ; Hippocampus ; Membranes ; Nucleus Accumbens ; Olfactory Pathways ; Putamen ; Rats* ; Receptors, Purinergic P1* ; Tritium

BACKGROUND: Although dystonic posturing (DP) during temporal lobe seizures is known to be related to basal ganglia activation, the mechanism of the dystonic posturing has not been investigated in greater details . METHODS: Thirty-two patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) underwent ictal and interictal SPECTs. They were classified into two groups: 1) DP with ictal dystonia during ictal SPECT (N=15) and 2) Non-DP without dystonia (N=17). Ictal-interictal SPECT subtraction was performed as follows: co-registration, intensity normalization, subtraction, thresholding and then an overlay to SPGR MRI. The presence and intensity of ictal hyperperfusion were determined in frontal lobe, basal ganglia, temporal lobe and insular cortex. RESULTS: The incidences of ictal hyperperfusion in DP vs. Non-DP were caudate nucleus [80.0%(12/15 patients) vs. 0% (0/17), p=0.001], putamen [93.3% (14/15) vs. 48.2% (8/17), p=0.005], globus pallidus [53.3% (8/15) vs. 23.5% (4/17), p=0.082], thalamus [80.0% (12/15) vs. 41.2% (7/17), p=0.026], insular cortex [46.7% (7/15) vs.23.5% (4/17), p=0.051], orbitofrontal [46.7% (6/15) vs. 35.3% (7/17), p=0.053], medial frontal [6.7% (1/15) vs. 18.7% (2/17), p=0.621], dorsolateral frontal [13.3% (2/15) vs. 18.7%(2/17), p=0.737] in the hemisphere of epileptic side. In patients who showed ictal hyperperfusion in striatum and thalamus, the average intensity of hyperperfusion in DP vs. Non-DP was caudate nucleus 1.67 vs. 0.0, putamen 2.20 vs. 1.05, globus pallidus 1.2 vs. 0.65, thalamus 2.00 vs. 0.88 in the epileptic hemisphere. CONCLUSIONS: Caudate nucleus as well as putamen appeared to be important for producing ictal dystonia during TLE seizures. The greater intensity of ictal hyperperfusion in putamen, caudate nucleus and thalamus seems to be related to ictal dystonia.
Basal Ganglia ; Brain* ; Caudate Nucleus ; Dystonia ; Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe ; Frontal Lobe ; Globus Pallidus ; Humans ; Incidence ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Putamen ; Seizures* ; Temporal Lobe* ; Thalamus ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon

BACKGROUND: Although dystonic posturing (DP) during temporal lobe seizures is known to be related to basal ganglia activation, the mechanism of the dystonic posturing has not been investigated in greater details . METHODS: Thirty-two patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) underwent ictal and interictal SPECTs. They were classified into two groups: 1) DP with ictal dystonia during ictal SPECT (N=15) and 2) Non-DP without dystonia (N=17). Ictal-interictal SPECT subtraction was performed as follows: co-registration, intensity normalization, subtraction, thresholding and then an overlay to SPGR MRI. The presence and intensity of ictal hyperperfusion were determined in frontal lobe, basal ganglia, temporal lobe and insular cortex. RESULTS: The incidences of ictal hyperperfusion in DP vs. Non-DP were caudate nucleus [80.0%(12/15 patients) vs. 0% (0/17), p=0.001], putamen [93.3% (14/15) vs. 48.2% (8/17), p=0.005], globus pallidus [53.3% (8/15) vs. 23.5% (4/17), p=0.082], thalamus [80.0% (12/15) vs. 41.2% (7/17), p=0.026], insular cortex [46.7% (7/15) vs.23.5% (4/17), p=0.051], orbitofrontal [46.7% (6/15) vs. 35.3% (7/17), p=0.053], medial frontal [6.7% (1/15) vs. 18.7% (2/17), p=0.621], dorsolateral frontal [13.3% (2/15) vs. 18.7%(2/17), p=0.737] in the hemisphere of epileptic side. In patients who showed ictal hyperperfusion in striatum and thalamus, the average intensity of hyperperfusion in DP vs. Non-DP was caudate nucleus 1.67 vs. 0.0, putamen 2.20 vs. 1.05, globus pallidus 1.2 vs. 0.65, thalamus 2.00 vs. 0.88 in the epileptic hemisphere. CONCLUSIONS: Caudate nucleus as well as putamen appeared to be important for producing ictal dystonia during TLE seizures. The greater intensity of ictal hyperperfusion in putamen, caudate nucleus and thalamus seems to be related to ictal dystonia.
Basal Ganglia ; Brain* ; Caudate Nucleus ; Dystonia ; Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe ; Frontal Lobe ; Globus Pallidus ; Humans ; Incidence ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Putamen ; Seizures* ; Temporal Lobe* ; Thalamus ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon