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An fMRI study of musicians with focal dystonia during tapping tasks

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Abstract

Musician’s dystonia is a type of task specific dystonia for which the pathophysiology is not clear. In this study, we performed functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the motor-related brain activity associated with musician’s dystonia. We compared brain activities measured from subjects with focal hand dystonia and normal (control) musicians during right-hand, left-hand, and both-hands tapping tasks. We found activations in the thalamus and the basal ganglia during the tapping tasks in the control group but not in the dystonia group. For both groups, we detected significant activations in the contralateral sensorimotor areas, including the premotor area and cerebellum, during each tapping task. Moreover, direct comparison between the dystonia and control groups showed that the dystonia group had greater activity in the ipsilateral premotor area during the right-hand tapping task and less activity in the left cerebellum during the both-hands tapping task. Thus, the dystonic musicians showed irregular activation patterns in the motor-association system. We suggest that irregular neural activity patterns in dystonic subjects reflect dystonic neural malfunction and consequent compensatory activity to maintain appropriate voluntary movements.

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Acknowledgment

This study was partly supported by the YAMAHA Music Foundation. We wish to thank Prof. Emer. Juntendo University Dr. Yasuo Yamauchi for helpful comments and encouragement.

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Author notes

  1. Hiroshi Kadota

    Present address: Department of Physical and Health Education, Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rehabilitation for Sensory Functions, Research Institute, National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, 4-1 Namiki, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-8555, Japan

    Hiroshi Kadota, Yasoichi Nakajima, Makoto Miyazaki, Hirofumi Sekiguchi & Yutaka Kohno

  2. Course of Functional Control Systems, Graduate School of Engineering, Shibaura Institute of Technology, 307 Fukasaku, Minuma-ku, Saitama, Satitama, 337-8570, Japan

    Hiroshi Kadota

  3. Research Institute, Kochi University of Technology, 185 Miyanokuchi, Tosayamada, Kochi, 782-8502, Japan

    Makoto Miyazaki

  4. Faculty of Business and Information Sciences, Jobu University, 634-1, Toyatsuka-machi, Isesaki, Gunma, 372-8588, Japan

    Hirofumi Sekiguchi

  5. Ibaraki Prefectural University of Health Sciences, 4733 Ami, Ami-machi, Inashiki, Ibaraki, 300-0331, Japan

    Yutaka Kohno

  6. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, National Defense Medical College, 3-2 Namiki, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-8513, Japan

    Masatoshi Amako, Hiroshi Arino & Koichi Nemoto

  7. National Defense Medical College Research Institute, National Defense Medical College, 3-2 Namiki, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-8513, Japan

    Koichi Nemoto

  8. Department of Mechanical and Intelligent Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Utsunomiya University, 7-1-2 Yoto, Utsunomiya, 321-8585, Japan

    Naotaka Sakai

  9. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, School of Medicine, Yokohama City University, 3-9 Fukuura, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 236-0004, Japan

    Naotaka Sakai

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  1. Hiroshi Kadota
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  2. Yasoichi Nakajima
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  3. Makoto Miyazaki
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  4. Hirofumi Sekiguchi
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  5. Yutaka Kohno
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  6. Masatoshi Amako
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  7. Hiroshi Arino
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  9. Naotaka Sakai
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Correspondence to Hiroshi Kadota.

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Kadota, H., Nakajima, Y., Miyazaki, M. et al. An fMRI study of musicians with focal dystonia during tapping tasks. J Neurol 257, 1092–1098 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-010-5468-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-010-5468-9

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