Distinct roles of brain activity and somatotopic representation in pathophysiology of focal dystonia

Two main neural mechanisms including loss of cortical inhibition and maladaptive plasticity have been thought to be involved in the pathophysiology of focal task‐specific dystonia. Such loss of inhibition and maladaptive plasticity likely correspond to cortical overactivity and disorganized somatotopy, respectively. However, the most plausible mechanism of focal task‐specific dystonia remains unclear. To address this question, we assessed brain activity and somatotopic representations of motor‐related brain areas using functional MRI and behavioral measurement in healthy instrumentalists and patients with embouchure dystonia as an example of focal task‐specific dystonia. Dystonic symptoms were measured as variability of fundamental frequency during long tone playing. We found no significant differences in brain activity between the embouchure dystonia and healthy wind instrumentalists in the motor‐related areas. Assessment of somatotopy, however, revealed significant differences in the somatotopic representations of the mouth area for the right somatosensory cortex between the two groups. Multiple‐regression analysis revealed brain activity in the primary motor and somatosensory cortices, cerebellum, and putamen was significantly associated with variability of fundamental frequency signals representing dystonic symptoms. Conversely, somatotopic representations in motor‐related brain areas were not associated with variability of fundamental frequency signals in embouchure dystonia. The present findings suggest that abnormal motor‐related network activity and aberrant somatotopy correlate with different aspects of mechanisms underlying focal task‐specific dystonia.