Abstract
Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) analyses have shown that the dorsal attention network (DAN) is involved in the pathophysiological changes of tinnitus, but few relevant studies have been conducted, and the conclusions to date are not uniform. The purpose of this research was to test whether there is a change in intrinsic functional connectivity (FC) patterns between the DAN and other brain regions in tinnitus patients. Thirty-one patients with persistent tinnitus and thirty-three healthy controls were enrolled in this study. A group independent component analysis (ICA), degree centrality (DC) analysis, and seed-based FC analysis were conducted. In the group ICA, the tinnitus patients showed increased connectivity in the left superior parietal gyrus in the DAN compared to the healthy controls. Compared with the healthy controls, the tinnitus patients showed increased DC in the left inferior parietal gyrus and decreased DC in the left precuneus within the DAN. The clusters within the DAN with significant differences in the ICA or DC analysis between the tinnitus patients and the healthy controls were selected as regions of interest (ROIs) for seeds. The tinnitus patients exhibited significantly increased FC from the left superior parietal gyrus to several brain regions, including the left inferior parietal gyrus, the left superior marginal gyrus, and the right superior frontal gyrus, and decreased FC to the right anterior cingulate cortex. The tinnitus patients exhibited decreased FC from the left precuneus to the left inferior occipital gyrus, left calcarine cortex, and left superior frontal gyrus compared with the healthy controls. The findings of this study show that compared with healthy controls, tinnitus patients have altered functional connections not only within the DAN but also between the DAN and other brain regions. These results suggest that it may be possible to improve the disturbance and influence of tinnitus by regulating the DAN.
Highlights
Tinnitus refers to the continuous and conscious abnormal perception of nonverbal sounds in the ear or brain in the absence of acoustic stimulation
We found that some regions of the dorsal attention network (DAN) in the tinnitus patients differed in their contributions to the neurological activity of the whole brain, and the functional connections between these regions and some other brain regions were altered
By analyzing the functional connection maps of the DAN in the two groups, we found that the connectivity of the left superior parietal gyrus was enhanced in the tinnitus group, indicating that this cluster in the DAN was more activated in the tinnitus patients than in the healthy controls
Summary
Tinnitus refers to the continuous and conscious abnormal perception of nonverbal sounds in the ear or brain in the absence of acoustic stimulation. There is no final conclusion regarding the mechanism underlying tinnitus, but as a result of in-depth studies, it is widely believed that sustained tinnitus involves multisystem participation and impact [1, 6, 7] Based on this theory, emotion, attention, memory, and control networks all contribute to the abnormal sound perception of tinnitus and the generation and development of related features. Their research showed that plasticity changes in the central auditory system are caused by unevenness in auditory neuronal excitability and inhibition When this unequal input exceeds its adjustment range, it abnormally stimulates neurological activity in multiple
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
