• Pavel Filip, Cécile Gallea, Stéphane Lehéricy, Eric Bertasi, Traian Popa, Radek Mareček, Ovidiu V Lungu, Tomáš Kašpárek, Jiří Vaníček, and Martin Bareš.
• Central European Institute of Technology, Central European Institute of Technology, Masaryk University (CEITEC MU), Behavioral and Social Neuroscience Research Group, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
• Mov. Disord. 2017 May 1; 32 (5): 757-768.

BackgroundAlthough dystonia is traditionally conceptualized as a basal ganglia disorder, increasing interest has been directed at a different neural network node, the cerebellum, which may play a significant role in the pathophysiology of dystonia. Abnormal sensorimotor processing and disturbed motor schemes, possibly attributable to cerebellar changes, remain unclear.MethodsWe sought to characterize the extent of cerebellar dysfunction within the motor network using functional MRI activation analysis, connectivity analysis, and voxel-based morphometry in cervical dystonia patients (n = 25, 15 women, mean age 45.8 years) and healthy volunteers (n = 25, 15 women, mean age 44.7 years) in a visuospatial task requiring predictive motor timing.ResultsCervical dystonia patients showed decreased activation in the posterior cerebellar lobules as well as in the premotor areas, the associative parietal cortex, and visual regions. Patients also had decreased cerebellar connectivity with bilateral basal ganglia structures and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.ConclusionsThis promotes the view that dystonia results from miscommunication between the basal ganglia and cerebellar loops, thus providing new insights into the brain regions essential for the development of cervical dystonia. © 2017 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.© 2017 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

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