Tourette syndrome (TS) is a childhood-onset neurological disorder characterised by the occurrence of motor and vocal tics and the presence of premonitory sensory/urge phenomena. Functional neuroimaging studies in humans, and experimental investigations in animals, have shown that the genesis of tics in TS involve a complex interaction between cortical-striatal-thalamic-cortical brain circuits and additionally appears to involve the cerebellum. Furthermore, structural brain imaging studies have demonstrated alterations in grey matter (GM) volume in TS across a wide range of brain areas, including alterations in GM volume within the cerebellum. Until now, no study to our knowledge has yet investigated how GM structural covariance networks linked to the cerebellum may be altered in individuals with TS. In this study we employed voxel-based morphometry, and a 'seed-to-voxel' structural covariance network (SCN) mapping approach, to investigate alterations in GM cerebellar volume in people with TS, and alterations in cerebellar SCNs associated with TS. Data from 64 young participants was entered in the final analysis, of which 28 had TS while 36 were age-and sex-matched healthy volunteers. Using the spatially unbiased atlas template of the cerebellum and brainstem (SUIT) atlas, we found reduced GM volume in cerebellar lobule involved in higher-order cognitive functions and sensorimotor processing, in patients. In addition, we found that several areas located in frontal and cingulate cortices and sensorimotor network in addition to subcortical areas show altered structural covariance with our cerebellar seed compared to age-matched controls. These results add to the increasing evidence that cortico-basal ganglia-cerebellar interactions play an important role in tic symptomology.

中文翻译：

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图雷特综合征年轻人小脑灰质结构和协方差网络的改变。

抽动秽语综合征 (TS) 是一种儿童期发病的神经系统疾病，其特征是运动和声音抽搐的发生以及先兆性感觉/冲动现象的存在。人类功能性神经影像学研究和动物实验研究表明，TS 中抽动的发生涉及皮质-纹状体-丘脑-皮质脑回路之间的复杂相互作用，并且似乎还涉及小脑。此外，结构性脑成像研究表明，TS 中灰质 (GM) 体积在广泛的大脑区域发生改变，包括小脑内 GM 体积的改变。到目前为止，据我们所知，还没有研究调查与小脑相关的 GM 结构协方差网络如何在 TS 个体中发生改变。在这项研究中，我们采用了基于体素的形态测量学和“种子到体素”结构协方差网络 (SCN) 映射方法，来研究 TS 患者 GM 小脑体积的变化，以及与 TS 相关的小脑 SCN 的变化。来自 64 名年轻参与者的数据进入最终分析，其中 28 名患有 TS，而 36 名是年龄和性别匹配的健康志愿者。使用小脑和脑干 (SUIT) 图谱的空间无偏图谱模板，我们发现患者的小脑小叶中涉及高阶认知功能和感觉运动处理的 GM 体积减少。此外，我们发现除了皮层下区域外，位于额叶和扣带回皮层和感觉运动网络的几个区域与年龄匹配的对照相比，显示出与我们的小脑种子的结构协方差改变。