Brain Control of Blinking

March 3, 2008 updated by: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

Cortical Control of Voluntary Blinking

This study will use transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to study how the brain controls movement of muscles in the face-in particular, those involved in eye blinking. TMS is a procedure that activates areas of the brain with magnetic pulses that travel through the scalp and the skull.

Healthy normal volunteers 21 years of age and older may be eligible for this study. They must be free of any serious medical illness, have no neurological or psychiatric disorders or history of seizures, and must not be taking any medications that can affect nervous system function.

Participants will undergo TMS and the electrical activity in muscles activated by the stimulation will be recorded. For TMS, an insulated wire coil is placed on the patient's scalp, and a brief electrical current is passed through the coil. This creates a magnetic pulse that travels through the scalp and skull and causes small electrical currents in the outer part of the brain. If the coil is placed over a nerve that controls muscles, there may be a twitch in the muscles, sometimes large enough to move the face. In other cases, there may be a feeling of movement or tingling sensation in the face. Stimulation over the muscles on the side of the head may cause some discomfort there or twitching of the jaw. During the stimulation, subjects may be asked to tense certain muscles slightly or perform other simple actions.

Electrical activity of the muscles activated by the stimulation is recorded. This is done with both metal electrodes taped to the skin over the muscle and with fine needle electrodes inserted into the muscles around the eyes.

The study usually takes less than 3 hours, with frequent breaks. If more time is required, the study will be broken into more than one session.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Detailed Description

The purpose of this study is to investigate the cortical center for voluntary control of eyelid closure using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Conventionally the primary motor cortex (M1) has been thought to control upper facial movement . However, recent neuroanatomical and neuroimaging studies suggest that the upper facial muscles are mainly controlled by the mesial frontal region, not M1 . Recently, we performed a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) study to investigate the cortical center for the upper facial muscles, especially those related to blinking, and observed possible cortical responses from the surface electrodes attached to the orbicularis oculi (OOC) muscles with the stimulation applied to the mesial frontal region. In this study, we are planning to use monopolar needle electrodes to confirm that these responses originate from the cortical stimulation.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment

10

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Maryland
      • Bethesda, Maryland, United States, 20892
        • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

INCLUSION CRITERIA:

Inclusion criteria of this study are normal adult volunteers who are greater than or equal to 21 years old.

EXCLUSION CRITIERIA:

Exclusion criteria are those who have either any medico-surgical, neurological and psychiatric illness, who have been taking any medication with potential influence on nervous system function;

who have a pacemaker;

an implanted medical pump;

a metal plate or a metal object in the skull or eye (for example, after brain surgery); or

who have a history of seizure disorder.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

February 1, 2002

Study Completion

February 1, 2004

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 7, 2002

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 7, 2002

First Posted (Estimate)

February 8, 2002

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

March 4, 2008

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 3, 2008

Last Verified

February 1, 2004

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 020119
  • 02-N-0119

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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