Networking of Brain Activity in People with Tinnitus

描述（由申请人提供）：本申请涉及广泛的挑战领域（06）：使能技术和特定的挑战主题，06-DC-103：了解负责Tintin的神经机制。这项工作将研究一个全新的大脑机制耳鸣直接在人。这种机制--大脑中心之间的异常协调或耦合--在我们对功能性磁共振（fMRI）数据的初步分析中得到了惊人的体现：耳鸣受试者，而不是非耳鸣对照组，表现出非初级听觉皮层和已知调节情绪的额叶区域之间的活动异常耦合。这种异常的耦合强烈暗示了耳鸣状况的临床上最令人困惑的方面之一，即耳鸣感受器引起痛苦和痛苦加剧耳鸣感受器的“恶性循环”。大脑区域之间的异常耦合可能是将耳鸣感受和影响联系在一起的纽带，这本身就是本提案的强烈动机。我们最初的观察结果只是冰山一角的可能性是更有理由检查大脑机制，可能被证明是耳鸣生理学的一个重要方面。在这里，我们提出了行为，功能磁共振成像，磁和脑电图（MEG，EEG）测量耳鸣受试者和非耳鸣对照测试，量化，并建立耳鸣受试者的大脑中心之间的异常协调的行为意义。我们希望这项工作将从根本上改变该领域如何概念化耳鸣的大脑机制。它也承诺使我们更接近的一天，当每一个受耳鸣困扰的数百万美国人可以进入诊所，并走开治愈。 公共卫生相关性：本提案调查了一种新的脑功能异常，可能是耳鸣的最临床重要方面的基础，即“恶性循环”：耳鸣引起痛苦;痛苦引起耳鸣。这种异常的本质--将直接在人类身上进行研究--是大脑中心之间异常强烈的活动耦合，比如那些处理声音和情绪的中心。如果我们的工作表明，这种异常的耦合确实是有效的耳鸣患者，有现有的治疗方法，可能能够扭转它，从而提供救济的条件，这是所有太经常衰弱。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application addresses broad Challenge Area (06): Enabling Technologies and specific Challenge Topic, 06-DC-103: Understanding the Neural Mechanisms Responsible for Tinnitus. The proposed work will investigate a completely new brain mechanism for tinnitus directly in people. This mechanism - abnormal coordination, or coupling, between brain centers - is manifested strikingly in our preliminary analyses of functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) data: Tinnitus subjects, but not non-tinnitus controls, demonstrate an abnormal coupling of activity between non-primary auditory cortex and frontal areas known to mediate emotions. This abnormal coupling is strongly suggestive of one of the most clinically perplexing aspects of the tinnitus condition, the "vicious cycle" whereby the tinnitus percept causes distress and distress exacerbates the percept. The possibility that aberrant coupling between brain areas may be the tie that binds tinnitus percept and affect is, by itself, strong motivation for the present proposal. The possibility that our initial observations are only the tip of the iceberg is all the more reason to examine a brain mechanism that may prove to be a crucial aspect of the physiology of tinnitus. Here, we propose behavioral, fMRI, magneto- and electro-encephalographic (MEG, EEG) measurements in tinnitus subjects and non-tinnitus controls to test for, quantify, and establish the behavioral significance of aberrant coordination between brain centers in tinnitus subjects. We expect this work will fundamentally change how the field conceptualizes the brain mechanisms of tinnitus. It promises to also bring us closer to the day when every one of the millions of Americans plagued by tinnitus can enter a clinic and walk away cured. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This proposal investigates a novel abnormality of brain function that may underlie the most clinically significant aspect of tinnitus, the "vicious cycle": tinnitus causes distress; distress causes tinnitus. The nature of the abnormality - to be studied directly in people - is an unusually strong coupling of activity between brain centers such as those processing sound and emotions. If our work shows that this abnormal coupling is indeed operative in tinnitus patients, there are existing treatments that may be able to reverse it and thereby provide relief from a condition that is all too often debilitating.