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DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1672-6731.2015.05.014

Summary Background Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) mapping can present the activated cortical area during movement, while little is known about precise location in facial and tongue movements. Objective To investigate the representation of facial and tongue movements by task fMRI. Methods Twenty right-handed healthy subjects were underwent block design task fMRI examination. Task movements included lip pursing, cheek bulging, grinning and vertical tongue excursion. Statistical parametric mapping (SPM8) was applied to analysis the data. Results One-sample t-test was used to calculate the common activation area between facial and tongue movements. Also, paired t-test was used to test for areas of over- or underactivation in tongue movement compared with each group of facial movements. Conclusions The common areas within facial and tongue movements suggested the similar motor circuits of activation in both movements. Prior activation in tongue movement was situated laterally and inferiorly in sensorimotor area relative to facial movements. Prior activation of tongue movement was investigated in left superior parietal lobe relative to lip pursing. Also, prior activation in bilateral cuneus lobe in grinning compared with tongue movement was detected.

Patients suffering different intervals of facial nerve injury were investigated by functional magnetic resonance imaging to study changes in activation within cortex.Forty-five patients were divided into 3 groups based on intervals of facial nerve injury. Another 16 age and sex-matched healthy participants were included as a control group. Patients and healthy participants underwent task functional magnetic resonance imaging (eye blinking and lip pursing) examination.Functional reorganization after facial nerve injury is dynamic and time-dependent. Correlation between activation in sensorimotor area and intervals of facial nerve injury was significant, with a Pearson correlation coefficient of -0.951 (P < 0.001) in the left sensorimotor area and a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.333 (P = 0.025) in the right sensorimotor area.Increased activation in integration areas, such as supramarginal gyrus and precunes lobe, could be detected in the early-middle stage of facial dysfunction compared with normal individuals. Decreased activation in sensorimotor area contralateral to facial nerve injury could be found in late stage of facial dysfunction compared with normal individuals. Dysfunction in the facial nerve has devastating effects on the activity of sensorimotor areas, whereas enhanced intensity in the sensorimotor area ipsilateral to the facial nerve injury in middle stage of facial dysfunction suggests the possible involvement of interhemispheric reorganization. Behavioral or brain stimulation technique treatment in this stage could be applied to alter reorganization within sensorimotor area in the rehabilitation of facial function, monitoring of therapeutic efficacy, and improvement in therapeutic intervention along the course of recovery.