Striatal networks for tinnitus treatment targeting

Abstract

Neuromodulation treatment effect size for bothersome tinnitus may be larger and more predictable by adopting a target selection approach guided by personalized striatal networks or functional connectivity maps. Several corticostriatal mechanisms are likely to play a role in tinnitus, including the dorsal/ventral striatum and the putamen. We examined whether significant tinnitus treatment response by deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the caudate nucleus may be related to striatal network increased functional connectivity with tinnitus networks that involve the auditory cortex or ventral cerebellum. The first study was a cross‐sectional 2‐by‐2 factorial design (tinnitus, no tinnitus; hearing loss, normal hearing, n = 68) to define cohort level abnormal functional connectivity maps using high‐field 7.0 T resting‐state fMRI. The second study was a pilot case–control series (n = 2) to examine whether tinnitus modulation response to caudate tail subdivision stimulation would be contingent on individual level striatal connectivity map relationships with tinnitus networks. Resting‐state fMRI identified five caudate subdivisions with abnormal cohort level functional connectivity maps. Of those, two connectivity maps exhibited increased connectivity with tinnitus networks—dorsal caudate head with Heschl's gyrus and caudate tail with the ventral cerebellum. DBS of the caudate tail in the case‐series responder resulted in dramatic reductions in tinnitus severity and loudness, in contrast to the nonresponder who showed no tinnitus modulation. The individual level connectivity map of the responder was in alignment with the cohort expectation connectivity map, where the caudate tail exhibited increased connectivity with tinnitus networks, whereas the nonresponder individual level connectivity map did not.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Oct 05, 2021
Source ID
10.1002/hbm.25676

Entities

People

  • Carly Demopoulos
  • Christopher P. Hess
  • Danielle Mizuiri
  • Jennifer Henderson Sabes
  • Leighton B N Hinkley
  • Meredith E. Adams
  • Paul S. Larson
  • Srikantan Nagarajan
  • Steven W. Cheung
  • Thomas C. Neylan

Organizations

  • Food and Drug Administration
  • National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
  • United States Department of Defense
  • University of California, San Francisco
  • University of Minnesota

Tags

Readers

  • Auditory Neuroscience/Auditory Physiology.
  • Neuroscience

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology