Currently, the treatments for postparalysis facial synkinesis are still inadequate. However, neuroimaging mechanistic studies are very limited and blurred. Instead of mapping activation regions, we were devoted to characterizing the organizational features of brain regions to develop new targets for therapeutic intervention. Eighteen patients with unilateral facial synkinesis and 19 healthy controls were enrolled. They were instructed to perform task functional magnetic resonance imaging (eye blinking and lip pursing) examinations and resting-state scans. Then, we characterized group differences in task-state fMRI to identify three foci, including the contralateral precentral gyrus (PreCG), supramarginal gyrus (SMG), and superior parietal gyrus (SPG). Next, we employed a novel approach (using dynamic causal modeling) to identify directed connectivity differences between groups in different modes. Significant patterns in multiple regions in terms of regionally specific actions following synkinetic movements were demonstrated, although the resting state was not significant. The couplings from the SMG to the PreCG (p = 0.03) was significant in the task of left blinking, whereas the coupling from the SMG to the SPG (p = 0.04) was significant in the task of left smiling. We speculated that facial synkinesis affects disruption among the brain networks, and specific couplings that are modulated simultaneously can compensate for motor deficits. Therefore, behavioral or brain stimulation technique treatment could be applied to alter reorganization within specific couplings in the rehabilitation of facial function.

目前，对瘫痪后面部联动症的治疗仍然不足。然而，神经影像学机制研究非常有限和模糊。我们没有绘制激活区域，而是致力于表征大脑区域的组织特征，以开发治疗干预的新目标。招募了 18 名单侧面部联动症患者和 19 名健康对照者。他们被要求进行任务功能磁共振成像（眨眼和撅嘴）检查和静息状态扫描。然后，我们对任务状态 fMRI 的组差异进行了表征，以确定三个病灶，包括对侧中央前回 (PreCG)、边缘上回 (SMG) 和顶上回 (SPG)。下一个，我们采用了一种新颖的方法（使用动态因果建模）来识别不同模式下组之间的定向连通性差异。尽管静息状态并不显着，但在协同运动后的区域特定动作方面，多个区域的显着模式得到了证实。从 SMG 到 PreCG 的耦合 (p = 0.03) 在左眨眼的任务中是显着的，而从 SMG 到 SPG 的耦合 (p = 0.04) 在左微笑的任务中是显着的。我们推测面部联动会影响大脑网络的中断，同时调节的特定耦合可以补偿运动缺陷。所以，