Journal
NEUROREPORT
Volume 17, Issue 12, Pages 1251-1255Publisher
LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS
DOI: 10.1097/01.wnr.0000230500.03330.01
Keywords
basal ganglia; botulinum toxin; diffusion imaging; dystonia; plasticity; white matter
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Funding
- NCRR NIH HHS [P41 RR14075, P41 RR014075] Funding Source: Medline
- NIBIB NIH HHS [U54 EB005149] Funding Source: Medline
- NINDS NIH HHS [R21 NS046348-01, P01 NS037409, R21 NS046348, P01 NS037409-07] Funding Source: Medline
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The pathophysiology of dystonia is still poorly understood. We used diffusion tensor imaging to screen for white matter abnormalities in regions between the basal ganglia and the thalamus in cervical and hand dystonia patients. All patients exhibited an abnormal hemispheric asymmetry in a focal region between the pallidum and the thalamus. This asymmetry was absent 4 weeks after the same patients were treated with intramuscular botulinum toxin injections. These findings represent a new systems-level abnormality in dystonia, which may lead to new insights about the pathophysiology of movement disorders. More generally, these findings demonstrate central nervous system changes following peripheral reductions in muscle activity. This raises the possibility that we have observed activity-dependent white matter plasticity in the adult human brain.
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