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| The fMRI research of the vestibular vertigo induced by the ice-water |
| WANG Zhi1, CHEN Min2, GONG Xia2, HUANG Wei-ning2, XU Liang2, ZHOU Cheng2 |
| 1. China Union Medical University, Beijing 100730, China; 2. Beijing Hospital, Beijing 100730, China |
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Abstract Objective: To study the increase and decrease of MR signal in the functional cortical regions related to the vestibular vertigo with caloric stimulation, 0℃ water, using blood-oxygen level dependent functional MRI(BOLD-fMRI) technique. Materials and Methods: Twenty right-handed human volunteers, 12 males and 8 females, age from 25 to 39 years old, had nothing wrong with the hearing ability and the cavity of the middle ear after the otoscopic examination, the pure-tone audiometry and the tympanometry tests. They were all examined with a recording electronystagmograph before the fMRI scan to confirm that the caloric stimulus actually induced vestibular vertigo and nystagmus. During the electronystagmograph test, 15ml ice water(0℃) was injected into the right ear of each volunteer within 15s with the subject’s eyes open. The functional images of brain were acquired with a 1.5T Signa Infinity Twin+Excite MR system of GE Co. All the subjects were blindfolded with eyes open in a dark circumstance. All data were analyzed on single-subject level and group level using SPM 99. Result: Several cortical and subcortical regions were activated and deactivated. The activated regions included: the supplementary motor area, paracentral lobule, left precuneus lobe, left posterior insula, left MT/MST complex, the cingulum gyrus, left occipital lobe(BA19) and left cerebellum. The deactivated regions included: bilateral superior and middle frontal gyri, right precentral gyrus(BA2/3), left precuneus lobe, right MT/MST. Conclusion: Cold water stimulation at 0℃ in fMRI confirms a widespread cortical network involved in vestibular signal processing.
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Received: 15 November 2008
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Corresponding Authors:
ZHOU Cheng
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2009, Vol. 20 
