title: Sensorimotor Cortical Neuroplasticity in the Early Stage of Bell's Palsy.
abstract: Neuroplasticity is a common phenomenon in the human brain following nerve injury. It is defined as the brain's ability to reorganize by creating new neural pathways in order to adapt to change. Here, we use task-related and resting-state fMRI to investigate neuroplasticity in the primary sensory (S1) and motor cortex (M1) in patients with acute Bell's palsy (BP). We found that the period directly following the onset of BP (less than 14 days) is associated with significant decreases in regional homogeneity (ReHo), fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (fALFF), and intrinsic connectivity contrast (ICC) values in the contralateral S1/M1 and in ReHo and ICC values in the ipsilateral S1/M1, compared to healthy controls. The regions with decreased ReHo, fALFF, and ICC values were in both the face and hand region of S1/M1 as indicated by resting-state fMRI but not task-related fMRI. Our results suggest that the early stages of BP are associated with functional neuroplasticity in both the face and hand regions of S1/M1 and that resting-state functional fMRI may be a sensitive tool to detect these early stages of plasticity in patient populations.
authors.affiliation: The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA.
authors.forename: Wenwen
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8810-0756
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Minhui
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Lihua
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xuan
authors.affiliation: The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Zhijian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Sisi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA.
authors.forename: Courtney
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.affiliation: The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Maosheng
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2396-1600
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2744-6067
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D020330:Bell Palsy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult