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Rainer Boegle

Possible papers associated with this exact author name in Arrow. This page groups case-insensitive exact name matches and is not a full identity disambiguation profile.

4 papers

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YNIMG Journal 2026 Journal Article

Multimodal MRI of the reorganization of multisensory and sensorimotor networks in chronic bilateral vestibulopathy

Marianne Dieterich
Thomas Stephan
Lena Fabritius
Rainer Boegle
Thomas Brandt

Chronic bilateral vestibulopathy (BVP) occurs preferably in elderly patients presenting with postural imbalance and head movement induced oscillopsia. The condition is often incomplete with residual functions in both ears. Beyond the vestibular reflexive deficits, an impairment of spatial orientation and navigation has been described associated with an atrophy of the hippocampal formation. However, this finding was inconsistent in various studies on rodents and humans. In the current MRI study on 15 BVP patients and 15 healthy controls (HC) we combined analyses of whole brain voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and the resting state fMRI (rs-fMRI) on the widely distributed multisensory vestibular network and its connections to sensorimotor, cognitive, and emotional networks at rest. Major results were gray and white matter changes in conjunction with rs-fMRI changes: the left posterior insula, angular and supramarginal gyri, and left premotor cortex; as well as bilateral anterior hippocampal formation and adjacent amygdala; visual cortex V1 and V5; thalamus; prefrontal cortex; cerebellar hemispheres and uvula; and pyramidal tract. Thus, the overlap of structural (VBM) and rs-fMRI including various correlation analyses disclosed that a bilateral reduction of peripheral vestibular input affects multiple networks from the cerebellum up to the cortical hemispheres. A possible functional interpretation is that the observed specific alterations reflect compensation and substitution by other networks - handling perception, sensorimotor balance regulation, cognition, and emotions - due to deficits in one sensory system. This is consistent with anterior hippocampal atrophy's role in spatial memory deficits, as well as the involvement of the cerebellum, amygdala, and prefrontal cortex in emotional processes. It also aligns with the top-down regulation by the prefrontal cortex via the pyramidal tract for cognitive control of balance triggered by the perception of postural instability. Further, correlation analyses support this interpretation because most morphological changes were dependent on the duration of the condition.

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YNICL Journal 2021 Journal Article

Structural reorganization of the cerebral cortex after vestibulo-cerebellar stroke

Julian Conrad
Maximilian Habs
Maxine Ruehl
Rainer Boegle
Matthias Ertl
Valerie Kirsch
Ozan Eren
Sandra Becker-Bense

OBJECTIVE: Structural reorganization following cerebellar infarcts is not yet known. This study aimed to demonstrate structural volumetric changes over time in the cortical vestibular and multisensory areas (i.e., brain plasticity) after acute cerebellar infarcts with vestibular and ocular motor symptoms. Additionally, we evaluated whether structural reorganization in the patients topographically correlates with cerebello-cortical connectivity that can be observed in healthy participants. METHODS: We obtained high-resolution structural imaging in seven patients with midline cerebellar infarcts at two time points. These data were compared to structural imaging of a group of healthy age-matched controls using voxel-based morphometry (2×2 ANOVA approach). The maximum overlap of the infarcts was used as a seed region for a separate resting-state functional connectivity analysis in healthy volunteers. RESULTS: Volumetric changes were detected in the multisensory cortical vestibular areas around the parieto-opercular and (retro-) insular cortex. Furthermore, structural reorganization was evident in parts of the frontal, temporal, parietal, limbic, and occipital lobes and reflected functional connections between the main infarct regions in the cerebellum and the cerebral cortex in healthy individuals. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates structural reorganization in the parieto-opercular insular vestibular cortex after acute vestibulo-cerebellar infarcts. Additionally, the widely distributed structural reorganization after midline cerebellar infarcts provides additional in vivo evidence for the multifaceted contribution of cerebellar processing to cortical functions that extend beyond vestibular or ocular motor function.

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YNIMG Journal 2018 Journal Article

Multisensory vestibular, vestibular-auditory, and auditory network effects revealed by parametric sound pressure stimulation

Sun-Young Oh
Rainer Boegle
Matthias Ertl
Thomas Stephan
Marianne Dieterich

Multisensory convergence and sensorimotor integration are important aspects for the mediation of higher vestibular cognitive functions at the cortical level. In contrast to the integration of vestibulo-visual or vestibulo-tactile perception, much less is known about the neural mechanism that mediates the integration of vestibular-otolith (linear acceleration/translation/gravity detection) and auditory processing. Vestibular-otolith and auditory afferents can be simultaneously activated using loud sound pressure stimulation, which is routinely used for testing cervical and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) in clinical neurotological testing. Due to the simultaneous activation of afferents there is always an auditory confound problem in fMRI studies of the neural topology of these systems. Here, we demonstrate that the auditory confounding problem can be overcome in a novel way that does not require the assumption of simple subtraction and additionally allows detection of non-linear changes in the response due to vestibular-otolith interference. We used a parametric sound pressure stimulation design that took each subject's vestibular stimulation threshold into account and analyzed for changes in BOLD-response below and above vestibular-otolith threshold. This approach helped to investigate the functional neuroanatomy of sound-induced auditory and vestibular integration using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Results revealed that auditory and vestibular convergence are contained in overlapping regions of the caudal part of the superior temporal gyrus (STG) and the posterior insula. In addition, there are regions that were responsive only to suprathreshold stimulations, suggesting vestibular (otolith) signal processing in these areas. Based on these parametric analyses, we suggest that the caudal part of the STG and posterior insula could contain areas of vestibular contribution to auditory processing, i. e. , higher vestibular cortices that provide multisensory integration that is important for tasks such as spatial localization of sound.

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YNIMG Journal 2016 Journal Article

Magnetic vestibular stimulation modulates default mode network fluctuations

Rainer Boegle
Thomas Stephan
Matthias Ertl
Stefan Glasauer
Marianne Dieterich

Strong magnetic fields (>1Tesla) can cause dizziness and it was recently shown that healthy subjects (resting in total darkness) developed a persistent nystagmus even when remaining completely motionless within a MR tomograph. Consequently, it was speculated that this magnetic vestibular stimulation (MVS) might influence fMRI results, as nystagmus is indicative of an imbalance in the vestibular system, potentially influencing other systems via multisensory vestibular interactions. The objective of our study was to investigate whether MVS does indeed modulate BOLD signal fluctuations. We recorded eye movements, as well as, resting-state fMRI of 30 volunteers in darkness at 1. 5T and 3. 0T to answer the question whether MVS modulated parts of the default mode resting-state network (DMN) in accordance with the Lorentz-force model for MVS, while distinguishing this from the known signal increase due to field strength related imaging effects. Our results showed that modulation of the default mode network occurred mainly in areas associated with vestibular and ocular motor function, and was in accordance with the Lorentz-force model, i. e. , double than the expected signal scaling due to field strength alone. We discuss the implications of our findings for the interpretation of studies using resting-state fMRI, especially those concerning vestibular research. We conclude that MVS needs to be considered in vestibular research to avoid biased results, but it might also offer the possibility of manipulating network dynamics and may thus help in studying the brain as a dynamical system.

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