title: Decreased gray matter concentration and local synchronization of spontaneous activity in the motor cortex in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Patients with DMD have demonstrated functional abnormalities in the motor-related brain areas in previous PET, MRS, and TMS studies. We applied structural MR imaging and RS-fMRI in patients with DMD for the first time, and aimed to investigate the GMC and ReHo or local synchronization of spontaneous activity in the motor cortex.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten boys with DMD (6.4-14.0 years of age) and 15 healthy controls (7.9-15.1 years of age) underwent brain structural MR imaging and RS-fMRI scanning. GMC and local synchronization of spontaneous activity in the motor cortex were analyzed by using VBM and ReHo approaches, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with healthy controls, boys with DMD showed decreased GMC in the left PSMC and decreased ReHo in the bilateral PMSC as well as in the supplementary motor area (P < .05, corrected).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The current results indicate that boys with DMD have both GMC loss and decreased local synchronization of spontaneous activity in the motor cortex, which might be due to the deficiency of dystrophin in the brain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Neurology, The Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China.
authors.forename: S-Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.forename: Q-H
authors.initials: QH
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.forename: J-L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: X-Y
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Long
authors.forename: Y-C
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: C-Z
authors.initials: CZ
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Y-F
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Zang
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003344:Cortical Synchronization; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D020388:Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000473:pathology*