Mapping Brain Region Activity During Chewing a Functional Magnetic Resonance Imageing Study

咀嚼被认为可以增加人脑不同区域的神经元活动。然而，由于技术上的困难，与咀嚼有关的精细解剖和生理区域尚未完全阐明。因此，我们利用有节奏性咀嚼口香糖和不嚼口香糖的周期中的功能磁共振成像，研究了17名受试者(年龄20-31岁)咀嚼和大脑区域活动之间的相互作用。在所有受试者中，咀嚼导致双侧感觉运动皮质、辅助运动区、脑岛、丘脑和小脑的BOLS氧合水平依赖(BOLD)信号增加。此外，在前三个区域，嚼中等硬度的口香糖比嚼硬口香糖产生更强的眩晕信号。然而，该信号在小脑中较高，在丘脑中不明显。这些结果表明，咀嚼会导致脑神经元活动的区域性增加，这与咬合力有关。

Mastication has been suggested to increase neuronal activities in various regions of the human brain. However, because of technical difficulties, the fine anatomical and physiological regions linked to mastication have not been fully elucidated. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging during cycles of rhythmic gum-chewing and no chewing, we therefore examined the interaction between chewing and brain regional activity in 17 subjects (aged 20-31 years). In all subjects, chewing resulted in a bilateral increase in BOLS oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signals in the sensor motor cortex, supplementary motor area, insula, thalamus, and cerebellum. In addition, in the first three regions, chewing of moderately hard gum produced stronger blod signals than the chewing of hard gum. However, the signal was higher in the cerebellum and not significant in the thalamus, respectively. These results suggest that chewing causes regional increase in brain neuronal activities which are related to biting force.