Han Sang-Yoon, Kim Heejung, Yun Yejin, Lee Min Jae, Lee Jun-Young, Park Sun-Won, Kim Yu Kyeong, Kim Young Ho
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University Boramae Medical Center, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Front Aging Neurosci. 2024 Sep 2;16:1470919. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2024.1470919. eCollection 2024.
Tinnitus may be associated with various brain changes. However, the degenerative changes in patients with tinnitus have not been extensively investigated. We aimed to evaluate degenerative, structural, and functional brain changes in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) who also suffer from tinnitus.
This study included participants aged 60 to 80 years with MCI and a hearing level better than 40 dB. The participants were classified into two groups: MCI with tinnitus (MCI-T) and MCI without tinnitus (MCI-NT). All patients underwent Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI), 3 T brain MRI, F18-florapronol PET, and F18-FDG PET.
The MCI-T group exhibited higher β-amyloid deposition in the superior temporal gyrus, temporal pole, and middle temporal gyrus compared to the MCI-NT group ( < 0.05 for all). Additionally, the MCI-T group showed increased metabolism in the inferior frontal gyrus, insula, and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) ( < 0.005 for all). The THI score was strongly correlated with increased volume in the insula, ACC, superior frontal gyrus, supplementary motor area, white matter near the hippocampus, and precentral gyrus ( < 0.05 for all). Moreover, the MCI-T group demonstrated higher metabolic activity in the default mode network (DMN) and lower activity in the executive control network (ECN) ( < 0.05 for all). In the MCI-T group, the posterior DMN was positively correlated with the visual network and negatively with the ECN, whereas in the MCI-NT group, it correlated positively with the ECN.
The MCI-T group exhibited greater β-amyloid accumulation in the auditory cortex and more extensive changes across various brain networks compared with the MCI-NT group, potentially leading to diverse clinical symptoms such as dementia with semantic deficits or depression. Tinnitus in MCI patients may serve as a biomarker for degenerative changes in the temporal lobe and alterations in brain network dynamics.
耳鸣可能与多种脑部变化有关。然而，耳鸣患者的退行性变化尚未得到广泛研究。我们旨在评估患有轻度认知障碍（MCI）且伴有耳鸣的患者的脑部退行性、结构和功能变化。
本研究纳入了年龄在60至80岁之间、患有MCI且听力水平优于40dB的参与者。参与者被分为两组：伴有耳鸣的MCI（MCI-T）和不伴有耳鸣的MCI（MCI-NT）。所有患者均接受了耳鸣障碍量表（THI）、3T脑部MRI、F18-氟罗普诺尔PET和F18-FDG PET检查。
与MCI-NT组相比，MCI-T组在颞上回、颞极和颞中回表现出更高的β-淀粉样蛋白沉积（所有均P<0.05）。此外，MCI-T组在额下回、岛叶和前扣带回皮质（ACC）显示代谢增加（所有均P<0.005）。THI评分与岛叶、ACC、额上回、辅助运动区、海马附近白质和中央前回体积增加密切相关（所有均P<0.05）。此外，MCI-T组在默认模式网络（DMN）中表现出更高的代谢活动，而在执行控制网络（ECN）中表现出更低的活动（所有均P<0.05）。在MCI-T组中，后DMN与视觉网络呈正相关，与ECN呈负相关，而在MCI-NT组中，它与ECN呈正相关。
与MCI-NT组相比，MCI-T组在听觉皮质中表现出更大的β-淀粉样蛋白积累，并且在各种脑网络中表现出更广泛的变化，这可能导致多种临床症状，如伴有语义缺陷的痴呆或抑郁症。MCI患者的耳鸣可能作为颞叶退行性变化和脑网络动力学改变的生物标志物。
