Skip Navigation



Brain Advance Access published online on March 6, 2006
Brain, doi:10.1093/brain/awl050
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
129/8/2029    most recent
awl050v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Bohlhalter, S.
Right arrow Articles by Hallett, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Bohlhalter, S.
Right arrow Articles by Hallett, M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author (2006). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received November 6, 2005
Revised December 27, 2005
Accepted February 3, 2006

Article

Neural correlates of tic generation in Tourette syndrome: an event-related functional MRI study

S. Bohlhalter 1, A. Goldfine 1 *, S. Matteson 1 *, G. Garraux 1, T. Hanakawa 1, K. Kansaku 1, R. Wurzman 1, and M. Hallett 1 *

1 Human Motor Control Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
M. Hallett, E-mail: hallettm{at}ninds.nih.gov


  Abstract

Little is known about the neural correlates of tics and associated urges. In the present study, we aimed to explore the neural basis of tics in patients with Tourette syndrome by using event-related functional MRI (fMRI). Ten patients (6 women, 4 men; age: mean ± SD = 31 ± 11.2) were studied while spontaneously exhibiting a variety of motor and vocal tics. On the basis of synchronized video/audio recordings, fMRI activities were analysed 2 s before and at tic onset irrespective of the clinical phenomenology. We identified a brain network of paralimbic areas such as anterior cingulate and insular cortex, supplementary motor area (SMA) and parietal operculum (PO) predominantly activated before tic onset (P < 0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons). In contrast, at the beginning of tic action, significant fMRI activities were found in sensorimotor areas including superior parietal lobule bilaterally and cerebellum. The results of this study indicate that paralimbic and sensory association areas are critically implicated in tic generation, similar to movements triggered internally by unpleasant sensations, as has been shown for pain or itching.

Keywords: tic; Tourette syndrome; functional MRI; paralimbic areas.
*These authors contributed equally to this work.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Cereb CortexHome page
A. Lerner, A. Bagic, T. Hanakawa, E. A. Boudreau, F. Pagan, Z. Mari, W. Bara-Jimenez, M. Aksu, S. Sato, D. L. Murphy, et al.
Involvement of Insula and Cingulate Cortices in Control and Suppression of Natural Urges
Cereb Cortex, May 9, 2008; (2008) bhn074v1.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 BrainHome page
C. L. Baym, B. A. Corbett, S. B. Wright, and S. A. Bunge
Neural correlates of tic severity and cognitive control in children with Tourette syndrome
Brain, January 1, 2008; 131(1): 165 - 179.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 NeurologyHome page
A. Lerner, A. Bagic, E. A. Boudreau, T. Hanakawa, F. Pagan, Z. Mari, W. Bara-Jimenez, M. Aksu, G. Garraux, J. M. Simmons, et al.
Neuroimaging of neuronal circuits involved in tic generation in patients with Tourette syndrome
Neurology, June 5, 2007; 68(23): 1979 - 1987.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.