Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Study Of Amplitude Of Low-Frequency Fluctuation Of Brain In Patients With Blepharospasm

Background: Blepharospasm(BSP)is a clinically common focal dystonia characterized by increased blinking.The pathophysiological mechanisms of BSP are unclear.This study aimed to use resting state f MRI to locate the possible abnormal brain activity in BSP patients and to explore its possible correlation with clinical variables.Methods: 25 patients with BSP and 23 healthy controls underwent restingstate functional magnetic resonance imaging(f MRI)scan.Jankovic Rating Scale(JRS-S),self-rating anxiety scale(SAS)and the self-rating depression scale(SDS)were used to evaluate the severity of symptoms,anxiety and depression.Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations(ALFF)was applied to analyze the imaging data.Correlation analysis was used to investigate the relationship between the ALFF value of abnormal brain areas and clinical characteristics of BSP patients.Results: Compared with the healthy controls,patients with BSP showed increased ALFF in the bilateral supplementary motor area,left cerebellar crus I,left fusiform gyrus and decreased ALFF in the bilateral superior medial prefrontal cortex,and right superior frontal gyrus.Correlation analysis showed that the ALFF value in the left fusiform gyrus/cerebellar crus I was positively correlated with symptomatic severity of BSP.Concussion: This study suggested that BSP patients had abnormal spontaneous brain function in multiple regions.Our results indicate that BSP likely represent a functional network disorder,and regional abnormalities may contribute to network s nodes functional alterations,and the abnormality of sensorimotor integration may be an important link in the pathogenesis of BSP.These findings provide more referential information for the underlying pathophysiology of BSP.