ArticleBrain and behavior2015
Increased volume and impaired function: the role of the basal ganglia in writer's cramp.
Article in Brain and behavior, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- No reliable gray matter alterations in idiopathic dystonia.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Structural magnetic resonance imaging in dystonia: A systematic review of methodological approaches and findings.European journal of neurology · 2022Pooled it
- Voxel-based meta-analysis of gray matter abnormalities in idiopathic dystonia.Journal of neurology · 2022Pooled it
- Structural brain analysis in focal upper limb dystonia.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Brain network pathophysiology in dystonia.Dystonia (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The pathogenesis of blepharospasm.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Review
- Imaging Insights of Isolated Idiopathic Dystonia: Voxel-Based Morphometry and Activation Likelihood Estimation Studies.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Article
- Anatomo-Functional Origins of the Cortical Silent Period: Spotlight on the Basal Ganglia.Brain sciences · 2021Review
- Motor learning deficits in cervical dystonia point to defective basal ganglia circuitry.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Abnormal effective connectivity in the sensory network in writer's cramp.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2021Article
- Functional Neural Networks in Writer's Cramp as Determined by Graph-Theoretical Analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2021Article
- Regional, not global, functional connectivity contributes to isolated focal dystonia.Neurology · 2020Article
- Decreased Gray Matter Volume of Cuneus and Lingual Gyrus in Schizophrenia Patients with Tardive Dyskinesia is Associated with Abnormal Involuntary Movement.Scientific reports · 2018Article
- Loss of inhibition in sensorimotor networks in focal hand dystonia.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2018Article
- Neuroimaging Applications in Dystonia.International review of neurobiology · 2018Review
- Dynamic causal modeling revealed dysfunctional effective connectivity in both, the cortico-basal-ganglia and the cerebello-cortical motor network in writers' cramp.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2018Article
- The direct basal ganglia pathway is hyperfunctional in focal dystonia.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2017Article
- Current Opinions and Areas of Consensus on the Role of the Cerebellum in Dystonia.Cerebellum (London, England) · 2017Article
- The Anatomical Basis for Dystonia: The Motor Network Model.Tremor and other hyperkinetic movements (New York, N.Y.) · 2017Review
- Altered brain activation in a reversal learning task unmasks adaptive changes in cognitive control in writer's cramp.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
introductionThe pathophysiology of writer's cramp, a task-specific dystonia, remains unclear. The objective of this study was to investigate the basal ganglia circuit and the cerebellum during a complex motor sequence learning task carried out with the nonaffected hand in writer's cramp patients.
methodsWe applied structural and functional imaging in 22 writer's cramp patients and 28 matched controls using 3T MRI. With the asymptomatic left hand all participants learned a complex, sequential, five-element sequence-tapping task as accurately and quickly as possible. Functional imaging was measured during a repeated (15 times), fixed block design with tapping (30 sec) and rest (30 sec). Additionally, gray matter volume of the basal ganglia was analyzed using voxel-based morphometry (VBM).
resultsWhile behavior was comparable between groups, after small volume correction the anterior part of the right putamen and the left globus pallidus exhibited reduced blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) activity in patients during the sequential finger-tapping task. VBM analysis showed larger gray matter volume bilateral in the posterior part of the putamen and globus pallidus. There were no group differences in the cerebellum.
conclusionThe results indicate an impairment of anterior basal ganglia loops involved in producing complex sequential movements of the unaffected hand. These findings are in line with previous reports of reduced neuronal activity in the globus pallidus internus. Higher gray matter volume of the putamen and globus pallidus may stem from elevated activity of the direct pathway, which could reflect a compensatory phenomenon or a primary predisposition, that is, endophenotypic trait.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.