title: Basal ganglia activity remains elevated after movement in focal hand dystonia.
abstract: Although previous studies of focal hand dystonia have detected cortical sensorimotor abnormalities, little is known about the role of the basal ganglia in this disorder. We report here that when focal hand dystonic patients performed finger-tapping tasks, functional magnetic resonance imaging showed persisting elevations of basal ganglia activity after the tasks ended. We posit that inhibitory control of the basal ganglia may be faulty in focal hand dystonia, and that the increases we observe in "resting" activity may mask basal ganglia abnormalities in standard imaging contrast analyses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA. ablood@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Anne J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Blood
authors.forename: Alice W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Flaherty
authors.forename: Ji-Kyung
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Fred H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Hochberg
authors.forename: Douglas N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Greve
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bonmassar
authors.forename: Bruce R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Rosen
authors.forename: Bruce G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Jenkins
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D020821:Dystonic Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric