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Cerebral Cortex Advance Access published online on November 9, 2005
Cerebral Cortex, doi:10.1093/cercor/bhj070
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Article

Structural Brain Changes in Tinnitus

M. Mühlau 1*, J. P. Rauschecker 2, E. Oestreicher 3, C. Gaser 4, M. Röttinger 5, A. M. Wohlschläger 6, F. Simon 1, T. Etgen 1, B. Conrad 1, and D. Sander 1

1 Department of Neurology, Technische Universität München, D-81675 München, Germany
2 Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20007, USA
3 Department of Otolaryngology, Technische Universität D-81675 München, Germany
4 Department of Psychiatry, University of Jena, Jena D-07740, Germany
5 Department of Radiology, Technische Universität München, D-81675 München, Germany
6 Department of Neurology, Technische Universität München, D-81675 München, Germany; Department of Radiology, Technische Universität München, D-81675 München, Germany; Nuklearmedizinische Klinik und Poliklinik, Technische Universität München, München D-81675, Germany

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
M. Mühlau, E-mail: m.muehlau{at}neuro.med.tu-muenchen.de


  Abstract

Tinnitus is a common but poorly understood disorder characterized by ringing or buzzing in the ear. Central mechanisms must play a crucial role in generating this auditory phantom sensation as it persists in most cases after severing the auditory nerve. One hypothesis states that tinnitus is caused by a reorganization of tonotopic maps in the auditory cortex, which leads to an overrepresentation of tinnitus frequencies. Moreover, the participation of the limbic system in generating tinnitus has been postulated. Here we aimed at identifying brain areas that display structural change in tinnitus. We compared tinnitus sufferers with healthy controls by using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging and voxel-based morphometry. Within the auditory pathways, we found gray-matter increases only at the thalamic level. Outside the auditory system, gray-matter decrease was found in the subcallosal region including the nucleus accumbens. Our results suggest that reciprocal involvement of both sensory and emotional areas are essential in the generation of tinnitus.

Keywords: medial geniculate nucleus; nucleus accumbens; subcallosal area; tinnitus; voxel-based morphometry.
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