Decreased resting perfusion in precuneus and posterior cingulate cortex predicts tinnitus severity

Benjamin J. Zimmerman, Sara A. Schmidt, Rafay A. Khan, Yihsin Tai, Somayeh Shahsavarani, Fatima T. Husain

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Functional magnetic resonance imaging has been increasingly used to understand the mechanisms involved in subjective tinnitus; however, researchers have struggled to reach a consensus about a primary mechanistic model to explain tinnitus. While many studies have used functional connectivity of the BOLD signal to understand how patterns of activity change with tinnitus severity, there is much less research on whether there are differences in more fundamental physiology, including cerebral blood flow, which may help inform the BOLD measures. Here, arterial spin labeling was used to measure perfusion in four regions-of-interest, guided by current models of tinnitus, in a sample of 60 tinnitus patients and 31 control subjects. We found global reductions in cerebral perfusion in tinnitus compared with controls. Additionally, we observed a significant negative correlation between tinnitus severity and perfusion. These results demonstrate that examining perfusion from the whole brain may present a complementary tool for studying tinnitus. More research will help better understand the physiology underlying these differences in perfusion.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number100010
JournalCurrent Research in Neurobiology
Volume2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2021

Keywords

  • Arterial spin labeling
  • Default mode network
  • Hearing loss
  • Magnetic resonance imaging
  • Perfusion
  • Tinnitus

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Clinical Neurology
  • Bioengineering
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Developmental Neuroscience
  • Neuroscience (miscellaneous)
  • Behavioral Neuroscience

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