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Anatomical correlates of blepharospasm.

Silvina G Horovitz¹, Anastasia Ford, Muslimah Ali Najee-Ullah

¹Human Motor Control Section, Medical Neurology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, 10 Center Drive, Bdg10/7D37, Bethesda, MD, USA. silvina.horovitz@nih.gov.

Translational Neurodegeneration

|December 6, 2012

Summary

Structural brain changes, including grey matter alterations in sensorimotor and cingulate cortices, are present in blepharospasm patients. These findings may explain involuntary eyelid closure in focal dystonia.

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Area of Science:

Neurology
Neuroimaging
Neuroscience

Background:

Focal dystonia is a neurological disorder causing involuntary muscle spasms.
Blepharospasm, a type of focal dystonia, results in involuntary eyelid closure with an unknown cause.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate structural changes in white and grey matter in blepharospasm patients.
To determine if these brain changes correlate with disease characteristics.

Main Methods:

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) including T1 and diffusion-weighted scans were used.
Compared grey matter volumes, fractional anisotropy (FA), and mean diffusivity between 14 blepharospasm patients and 14 controls.
Traced and compared corticobulbar tracts based on grey matter differences in the primary motor cortex.

Main Results:

Blepharospasm patients showed grey matter changes in the sensorimotor cortex and anterior cingulate gyrus.
Corticobulbar tract volume and connectivity were reduced in patients compared to controls.
No significant differences in FA or mean diffusivity were observed between groups.

Conclusions:

Grey matter alterations in the primary sensorimotor and anterior cingulate cortices are associated with blepharospasm.
These neuroanatomical changes may underlie the involuntary eyelid closure and sensory abnormalities in blepharospasm.