Altered spontaneous brain activity in essential tremor with and without resting tremor: a resting-state fMRI study

Li, Junying; Suo, Xueling; Li, Nannan; Lei, Du; Lu, Zejun; Peng, Jiaxin; Duan, Liren; Jing-xi,; Yijiang,; Gong, Qiyong; Peng, Rong

doi:10.1007/s10334-020-00865-1

Cited by 20 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 57 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In line with observations from structural MRI, the clinical phenotype appears to be associated with distinct functional brain changes. For example, ET individuals exhibiting head tremor showed distinct cerebellar activity compared with those who did not ( 76 ), and ET patients with resting tremor showed different activation patterns of various cortical and subcortical brain regions compared with classical ET ( 73 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Imaging the Pathophysiology of Essential Tremor—A Systematic Review

Holtbernd

Shah

2021

Front. Neurol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: The pathophysiology underlying essential tremor (ET) still is poorly understood. Recent research suggests a pivotal role of the cerebellum in tremor genesis, and an ongoing controversy remains as to whether ET constitutes a neurodegenerative disorder. In addition, mounting evidence indicates that alterations in the gamma-aminobutyric acid neurotransmitter system are involved in ET pathophysiology. Here, we systematically review structural, functional, and metabolic neuroimaging studies and discuss current concepts of ET pathophysiology from an imaging perspective.Methods: We conducted a PubMed and Scopus search from 1966 up to December 2020, entering essential tremor in combination with any of the following search terms and their corresponding abbreviations: positron emission tomography (PET), single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA).Results: Altered functional connectivity in the cerebellum and cerebello-thalamico-cortical circuitry is a prevalent finding in functional imaging studies. Reports from structural imaging studies are less consistent, and there is no clear evidence for cerebellar neurodegeneration. However, diffusion tensor imaging robustly points toward microstructural cerebellar changes. Radiotracer imaging suggests that the dopaminergic axis is largely preserved in ET. Similarly, measurements of nigral iron content and neuromelanin are unremarkable in most studies; this is in contrast to Parkinson's disease (PD). PET and MRS studies provide limited evidence for cerebellar and thalamic GABAergic dysfunction.Conclusions: There is robust evidence indicating that the cerebellum plays a key role within a multiple oscillator tremor network which underlies tremor genesis. However, whether cerebellar dysfunction relies on a neurodegenerative process remains unclear. Dopaminergic and iron imaging do not suggest a substantial overlap of ET with PD pathophysiology. There is limited evidence for alterations of the GABAergic neurotransmitter system in ET. The clinical, demographical, and genetic heterogeneity of ET translates into neuroimaging and likely explains the various inconsistencies reported.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Imaging the Pathophysiology of Essential Tremor—A Systematic Review

Holtbernd

Shah

2021

Front. Neurol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Figure 1 provides a flow diagram showing the screening and selection of studies. A total of 14 datasets from 13 studies (Benito‐León et al, 2015; Czarnecki, Jones, Burnett, Mullan, & Matsumoto, 2011; Fang et al, 2015; Fang et al, 2013; Ha et al, 2015; Jenkins et al, 1993; Li et al, 2020; Song, Park, Chung, & Chung, 2013; L. Wang et al, 2018; P. Wang et al, 2015; P. Wang, Luo, et al, 2018; Wills, Jenkins, Thompson, Findley, & Brooks, 1994; Yin, Lin, Li, Qian, & Mou, 2016) reported 286 patients with ET (mean age 45.0–67.4 years) and 254 HC (mean age 44.4–66.9 years). One of these studies reported multiple independent patient samples (L. Wang, Lei, et al, 2018), comparing ALFF abnormalities in ET patients with and without head tremor with that of HC.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One contributed no coordinates as no significant between‐group differences in ALFF were found (P. Wang et al, 2015). Two separate studies used overlapping samples, so we included the studies with the largest sample (Li et al, 2020; Song et al, 2013).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although resting‐state brain studies in ET have revealed abnormal patterns of spontaneous activity in cerebello‐thalamo‐cortical circuitry (Fang et al, 2016; Gallea et al, 2015; Pelzer et al, 2017), the results have been variable and inconsistent. For example, one study in ET patients reported decreased cerebellar activity (Fang et al, 2013), another reported increased cerebellar activity (Li et al, 2020), and another found no cerebellar changes (P. Wang et al, 2018). These differences may be ascribed to study differences in sample sizes, demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients, and image acquisition and analysis protocols.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Abnormalities of intrinsic brain activity in essential tremor: A meta‐analysis of resting‐state functional imaging

Lan

Suo

et al. 2021

Human Brain Mapping

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Neuroimaging studies using a variety of techniques have demonstrated abnormal patterns of spontaneous brain activity in patients with essential tremor (ET). However, the findings are variable and inconsistent, hindering understanding of underlying neuropathology. We conducted a meta‐analysis of whole‐brain resting‐state functional neuroimaging studies in ET compared to healthy controls (HC), using anisotropic effect‐size seed‐based d mapping, to identify the most consistent brain activity alterations and their relation to clinical features. After systematic literature search, we included 13 studies reporting 14 comparisons, describing 286 ET patients and 254 HC. Subgroup analyses were conducted considering medication status, head tremor status, and methodological factors. Brain activity in ET is altered not only in the cerebellum and cerebral motor cortex, but also in nonmotor cortical regions including prefrontal cortex and insula. Most of the results remained unchanged in subgroup analyses of patients with head tremor, medication‐naive patients, studies with statistical threshold correction, and the large subgroup of studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging. These findings not only show consistent and robust abnormalities in specific brain regions but also provide new information on the biology of patient heterogeneity, and thus help to elucidate the pathophysiology of ET.

show abstract

“…Later it was shown that these correlations are altered with ageing ( Dennis and Thompson, 2014 , Ferreira and Busatto, 2013 ) and different movement disorders, e.g. in Parkinson’s disease ( Mueller et al, 2018 , Tahmasian et al, 2015 , Wolters et al, 2019 ), in essential tremor ( Li et al, 2021 , Mueller et al, 2017 , Wang et al, 2018 ), and also in FMD ( Maurer et al, 2016 , Nahab et al, 2017 ). Note that there are various methods for investigating brain connectivity alterations using resting-state fMRI with graph theory approaches ( Bassett and Bullmore, 2006 , Bullmore and Sporns, 2009 , Margulies et al, 2010 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%