Altered resting-state functional activity in isolated pontine infarction patients with pathological laughing and crying

// Tao Liu 1, * , Jianjun Li 2, * , Shixiong Huang 1 , Changqinq Li 2 , Zhongyan Zhao 1 , Guoqiang Wen 1 and Feng Chen 2 1 Department of Neurology, Hainan General Hospital, Haikou 570311, China 2 Department of Radiology, Hainan General Hospital, Haikou 570311, China * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Feng Chen, email: fenger0802@163.com Keywords: pathological laughing and crying, resting-state fMRI, amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation, regional homogeneity Received: April 04, 2017 Accepted: June 24, 2017 Published: July 17, 2017 ABSTRACT We used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the global spontaneous neural activity involved in pathological laughing and crying after stroke. Twelve pathological laughing and crying patients with isolated pontine infarction were included, along with 12 age- and gender-matched acute isolated pontine infarction patients without pathological laughing and crying, and 12 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. We examined both the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation and the regional homogeneity in order to comprehensively evaluate the intrinsic activity in patients with post-stroke pathological laughing and crying. In the post-stroke pathological laughing and crying group, changes in these measures were observed mainly in components of the default mode network (medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate cortex, middle temporal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus and inferior parietal lobule), sensorimotor network (supplementary motor area, precentral gyrus and paracentral lobule), affective network (medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate cortex, parahippocampal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus and inferior temporal gyrus) and cerebellar lobes (cerebellum posterior lobe). We therefore speculate that when disinhibition of the volitional system is lost, increased activation of the emotional system causes pathological laughing and crying.