Sörös P, Lalone E, Smith R, Stevens T, Theurer J, Menon R S, Martin R E
School of Communication Sciences & Disorders, Faculty of Health Sciences, Elborn College, University of Western Ontario, 1201 Western Road, London, Ontario, Canada.
Neuroscience. 2008 Jun 2;153(4):1300-8. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2008.02.079. Epub 2008 Mar 19.
Although the posterior oral cavity and oropharynx play a major role in swallowing, their central representation is poorly understood. High-field functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain was used to study the central processing of brief air-pulses, delivered to the peritonsillar region of the lateral oropharynx, in six healthy adults. Bilateral air-pulse stimulation was associated with the activation of a bilateral network including the primary somatosensory cortex and the thalamus, classic motor areas (primary motor cortex, supplementary motor area, cingulate motor areas), and polymodal areas (including the insula and frontal cortex). These results suggest that oropharyngeal stimulation can activate a bilaterally distributed cortical network that overlaps cortical regions previously implicated in oral and pharyngeal sensorimotor functions such as tongue movement, mastication, and swallowing. The present study also demonstrates the utility of air-pulse stimulation in investigating oropharyngeal sensorimotor processing in functional brain imaging experiments.
尽管口腔后部和口咽在吞咽过程中起主要作用，但其在中枢的表现却鲜为人知。利用高场强脑功能磁共振成像对6名健康成年人进行研究，以观察短暂气脉冲作用于口咽外侧扁桃体周围区域时的中枢处理过程。双侧气脉冲刺激与一个双侧网络的激活相关，该网络包括初级体感皮层和丘脑、经典运动区（初级运动皮层、辅助运动区、扣带回运动区）以及多模态区（包括岛叶和额叶皮层）。这些结果表明，口咽刺激可激活双侧分布的皮层网络，该网络与先前涉及口腔和咽部感觉运动功能（如舌运动、咀嚼和吞咽）的皮层区域重叠。本研究还证明了气脉冲刺激在功能性脑成像实验中研究口咽感觉运动处理方面的实用性。
