BACKGROUND The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is well innervated by braches of the trigeminal nerve. The temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD) can cause neural-inflammation in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) at the site of injury, or compression, and may have systemic effects on the central nervous system (CNS). Neural-inflammation causes elevations in cytokine expression and microglia activation. When the site of injury, or compression is treated, or relieved, neural inflammation is reduced. These changes can be seen and measured with fMRI brain activities. METHODS For this study, patients with comorbid TMD and systemic/neurologic conditions were compared using clinical diagnostic markers, inflammatory, pain, tissue destruction enzymatic biomarkers, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activity of the brain, with and without a custom-made dental orthotic. RESULTS Our results showed a correlation between the clinical diagnosis of the pathological TMJ, biomarkers and the fMRI study. There was a marked elevation of biomarkers in samples taken from TMJ of patients who were clinically diagnosed with TMD. The fMRI study of TMD patients showed an abnormal hyper-connected salience network and a diminished blood flow to the anterior frontal lobes when they did not wear their customized dental orthotics. CONCLUSIONS Our findings highlight the importance of TMJ-CNS connections and use of fMRI as an investigative tool for understanding TMD and its related neurological pathologies.

中文翻译：

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颞下颌关节病理学的转化研究：初步生物标志物和功能磁共振成像研究。


背景技术颞下颌关节（TMJ）受到三叉神经分支的良好支配。颞下颌关节紊乱 (TMD) 可引起损伤或压迫部位周围神经系统 (PNS) 的神经炎症，并可能对中枢神经系统 (CNS) 产生全身影响。神经炎症导致细胞因子表达升高和小胶质细胞激活。当受伤或压迫部位得到治疗或缓解时，神经炎症就会减轻。这些变化可以通过功能磁共振成像大脑活动来观察和测量。方法 在本研究中，使用临床诊断标志物、炎症、疼痛、组织破坏酶生物标志物以及大脑的功能性磁共振成像 (fMRI) 活动，对患有 TMD 和全身/神经系统疾病的患者进行比较，无论是否有定制的牙齿矫形器。结果 我们的结果显示了病理性 TMJ 的临床诊断、生物标志物和功能磁共振成像研究之间的相关性。从临床诊断为 TMD 的患者的 TMJ 样本中采集的生物标志物显着升高。对 TMD 患者的功能磁共振成像研究显示，当他们没有佩戴定制的牙科矫形器时，他们会出现异常的超连接显着网络，并且流向前额叶的血流会减少。结论 我们的研究结果强调了 TMJ-CNS 连接的重要性以及使用功能磁共振成像作为了解 TMD 及其相关神经病理学的研究工具的重要性。