Artikel
A MEG study on frequency specificity of network activity in chronic tinnitus patients: preliminary results
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Veröffentlicht: | 12. September 2022 |
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Gliederung
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Objective: Tinnitus has been associated with a pathology of cortical brain networks that involves structural changes of auditory and non-auditory areas of the brain [1]. Numerous resting state studies have replicated a tinnitus network being maladaptively organized compared to healthy-controls [2]. Yet, it is still unknown whether the cortical reorganization is attributed to the patients individual tinnitus frequency specifically or if it is frequency irrelevant.
Methods: By employing magnetoencephalography (MEG), the current study aimed at objectively assessing frequency-specificity of cortical activation patterns by using the tinnitus tone (TT) of the patients respective individual tinnitus frequency and a 500 Hz-control tone (CT) as auditory stimuli, across 54 tinnitus patients. The obtained MEG data were analyzed with regard to event-related fields in brain source space and functional connectivity with a graph-based whole-head data-driven approach. Patients were asked to answer psychometric questionnaires to provide behavioral evidence regarding psychopathological symptoms.
Results: The results of the event-related source space analysis revealed a statistically significant cortical activation pattern by TT stimulation that involved fronto-parietal regions being related to higher level cognitive function of attention and emotion in the context of tinnitus processing. Activation patterns during CT stimulation mainly involved activation in auditory-related brain regions. Functional connectivity identified a reorganized cortical brain network for TT stimulation comprising left fronto-temporal, fronto-parietal and tempo-parietal junctions, which is in consistence with previous findings of an atypical widespread tinnitus network. Behavioral measures predicted activity in tinnitus-related brain regions.
Conclusion: Overall, the results suggest frequency-specificity of tinnitus-related cortical patterns.