Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2017-04-20T13:29:35Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissertação_Lorena Melo.pdf: 5009694 bytes, checksum: 8c547ec6fe15f072172ade3743762b9f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-20T13:29:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissertação_Lorena Melo.pdf: 5009694 bytes, checksum: 8c547ec6fe15f072172ade3743762b9f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-07-12 / CAPES / A presente dissertação apresenta dois estudos com o intuito de avançar no conhecimento das repercussões das estimulações cerebelares no aprendizado motor e equilíbrio de indivíduos saudáveis. O estudo 1 se propôs a investigar os efeitos polaridade-dependentes da estimulação transcraniana por corrente contínua cerebelar (ETCCc) no equilíbrio de indivíduos saudáveis. O estudo 2, verificou os efeitos da ETCCc e da estimulação magnética transcraniana repetitiva cerebelar (EMTr-c) no aprendizado motor de saudáveis. No primeiro estudo, 15 voluntárias saudáveis e destras foram submetidas a três sessões de ETCCc (anódica, catódica e sham) no hemisfério cerebelar direito em ordem contrabalanceada. Em cada sessão, o equilíbrio estático e dinâmico foi avaliado pela ferramenta Biodex Balance System antes e após cada estimulação, através dos testes Athlete Single Leg Stability e Limits of Stability. Os resultados apontaram para uma piora no equilíbrio estático após a ETCCc catódica, avaliado pelo Athlete Single Leg Stability do membro inferior esquerdo em comparação com os valores basais (p=0,01) e com a ETCCc sham (p=0,04). Dessa forma, é possível afirmar que a ETCCc catódica foi capaz de interferir no equilíbrio estático de indivíduos saudáveis. O segundo estudo foi realizado com 18 voluntários destros, submetidos a seis sessões em ordem contrabalanceada. As sessões consistiram na aplicação dos seguintes protocolos sobre o hemisfério cerebelar esquerdo: (i) ETCCc anódica; (ii) ETCCc catódica; (iii) ETCCc sham; (iv) EMTr-c 10 Hz; (v) EMTr-c 1 Hz e (vi) EMTr-c sham. O aprendizado motor online (durante a estimulação) e offline (após a estimulação) foi avaliado através do teste de reação serial (aquisição e evocação) e teste de escrita (duração total e precisão do movimento), respectivamente. Foi observado que para o aprendizado motor online, as EMTr-c 1 Hz (p=0,018) e 10 Hz (p=0,010) e ETCCc catódica (p=0,001) foram capazes de alterar a aquisição, enquanto que todas as estimulações (p<0,05), com exceção da anódica (p=0,126), foram capazes de interferir na evocação da sequência aprendida. Em relação ao aprendizado motor offline, houve redução da duração total da escrita para todas as condições de estimulação (p<0,05). Para a precisão do movimento, houve melhora apenas para as condições: ETCCc anódica (p=0,003), EMTr-c 1 Hz (p=0,006) e 10 Hz (p=0,014). Portanto, a EMTr-c parece melhorar o aprendizado motor independente da frequência de estimulação e do momento da execução da tarefa (online ou offline). Por outro lado, o efeito da ETCCc mostra-se polaridade-dependente, visto que apenas a ETCCc anódica melhorou o aprendizado offline e a catódica apresentou melhores resultados para o aprendizado online. / This dissertation comprises two studies in order to understand the effects of cerebellar stimulations on motor learning and postural balance of healthy individuals. The first experiment (study 1) aimed to investigate the polarity-dependent effects of cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (ctDCS) on postural balance in healthy volunteers. The second experiment (study 2) aimed to evaluate ctDCS and cerebellar repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (c-rTMS) effects on motor learning in healthy individuals. In the first study, 15 righ-handed healthy volunteers were submitted to three ctDCS sessions (anodal, cathodal and sham) in a counterbalanced order. In each session, static and dynamic balance were evaluated by the Biodex Balance System before and after each stimulation through the Athlete Single Leg Stability and Limits of Stability tests. It was found a worsening static balance after cathodal ctDCS, assessed by Left Athlete Single Leg Stability test when compared to baseline (p=0.01) and sham stimulation (p=0.04). Thus, it is reasonable to assume that cathodal ctDCS was able to interfere on static balance in healthy individuals. The second experiment (study 2) was performed with 18 righthanded volunteers submitted to six session in a counterbalanced order. In each session, the left cerebellar hemisphere was modulated by the following protocols: (i) Anodal ctDCS; (ii) Cathodal ctDCS; (iii) Sham ctDCS; (iv) 10 Hz c-rTMS; (v) 1 Hz crTMS and (vi) Sham c-rTMS. Motor learning was evaluated during (online) or after (offline) stimulation protocols by the serial reaction test (acquisition and evoking phases) and handwriting test (duration and movement precision), respectively. It was observed that for online motor learning, 1 Hz c-rTMS (p=0.018) and 10 Hz (p=0.010) and also cathodal ctDCS (p=0.001), were able to interfere on acquisition phase. All stimulations (p<0.05) except for anodal ctDCS (p=0.126) were able to interfere when the learned sequence was evoked. Regarding offline motor learning, results revealed a reduction of duration for all stimulation conditions. However, for movement precision it was found an improvement for anodal ctDCS (p=0.003), 1 Hz c-rTMS (p=0.006) and 10 Hz c-rTMS (p=0.014). Therefore, c-rTMS seems to improve motor learning independently of stimulation frequency and time (online or offline). On the other hand, ctDCS effects were polarity-dependent since anodal ctDCS was capable to modulate offline learning, while cathodal ctDCS showed better results for online motor learning performance.

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Introduction: Memory is a complex cognitive process formerly linked to mechanisms of brain plasticity that can be estimated in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) using transcranial magnetic stimulation and electroencephalography (TMS-EEG). Also, cortical thickness in the DLPFC may be a potential proxy measure of brain plasticity as previous literature reports a link between better memory and thicker cortex. However, the link between brain plasticity and memory performance as well as DLPFC thickness remains to be clarified. Methods: Intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) probed plasticity-like mechanisms in the left DLPFC in 17 cognitively healthy participants. TMS-EEG recordings were performed before and after sham and active iTBS to quantify plasticity via transcranial magnetic stimulation-evoked potentials (TEPs). Composite memory scores for each domain (verbal episodic, visual episodic and working memory) were obtained using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery. Anatomical T1 images were acquired by magnetic resonance imaging and processed by open-source software (CIVET) and the Automated Anatomical Labeling atlas to extract cortical thickness of the DLPFC. All statistical analyses (linear mixed model, Tukey's post hoc test and Pearson's correlations) were completed in R Studio. Results: iTBS resulted in increased TEP amplitude P30 (F= 5.239, p = 0.029), as shown by a significant interaction between condition (iTBS, sham) and time (pre- and post-condition). Specifically, Tukey's post hoc test revealed that the P30 increase was near trending significant post-iTBS compared to pre-iTBS for the active condition (p = 0.166) but not for the sham condition (p = 0.294). A trending significant relationship was observed between the magnitude of P30 change post-iTBS and thicker left DLPFC (r = 0.488; p = 0.108). Lastly, no significant relationships between P30 change and memory performance were observed. Conclusion: These preliminary findings suggest there could be a relationship between increased capacity for brain plasticity and a thicker left DLPFC. To further investigate these relationships, we plan to recruit additional cognitively healthy participants. Our preliminary findings support the foundation for future clinical studies in which DLPFC thickness could be explored as a predictive factor for response to plasticity-targeting iTBS treatment.

The present work introduces a synthesis of neocerebellar state estimation and feedforward control with multi-level language processing. The approach combines insights from clinical, imaging, and modelling work on the cerebellum with psycholinguistic and historical linguistic research. It finally provides the first experimental attempts towards the empirical validation of this synthesis, employing transcranial magnetic stimulation. A neuroanatomical locus traditionally seen as limited to lower sensorimotor functions, the cerebellum has, over the last decades, emerged as a widely accepted foundation of feedforward control and state estimation. Its cytoarchitectural homogeneity and diverse connectivity with virtually all parts of the central nervous system strongly support the idea of a uniform, domain-general cerebellar computation. Its reciprocal connectivity with language-related cortical areas suggests that this uniform cerebellar computation is also applied in language processing. Insight into the latter, however, remains an elusive desideratum; instead, research on cerebellar language functions is predominantly involved in the frontal cortical-like deficits (e.g. aphasias) seldom induced by cerebellar impairment. At the same time, reflections on cerebellar computations in language processing remain at most speculative, given the lack of discourse between cerebellar neuroscientists and psycholinguists. On the other hand, the fortunate contingency of the recent accommodation of these computations in psycholinguistic models provides the foundations for satisfying the desideratum above. The thesis thus formulates a neurolinguistic model whereby multi-level, predictive, associative linguistic operations are acquired and performed in neocerebello-cortical circuits, and are adaptively combined with cortico-cortical categorical processes. A broad range of psycholinguistic phenomena, involving, among others, "pragmatic normalization", "verbal/semantic illusions", associative priming, and phoneme restoration, are discussed in the light of recent findings on neocerebellar cognitive functions, and provide a rich research agenda for the experimental validation of the proposal. The hypothesis is then taken further, examining grammaticalization changes in the light of neocerebellar linguistic contributions. Despite a) the broad acceptance of routinization and automatization processes as the domain-general core of grammaticalization, b) the growing psycholinguistic research on routinized processing, and c) the evidence on neural circuits involved in automatization processes (crucially involving the cerebellum), interdisciplinary discourse remains strikingly poor. Based on the above, a synthesis is developed, whereby grammaticalization changes are introduced in routinized dialogical interaction as the result of maximized involvement of associative neocerebello-cortical processes. The thesis then turns to the first steps taken towards the verification of the hypothesis at hand. In view of the large methodological limitations of clinical research on cerebellar cognitive functions, the transcranial magnetic stimulation apparatus is employed instead, producing the very first linguistic experiments involving cerebellar stimulation. Despite the considerable technical difficulties met, neocerebellar loci are shown to be selectively involved in formal- and semantic-associative computations, with far-reaching consequences for neurolinguistic models of sentence processing. In particular, stimulation of the neocerebellar vermis is found to selectively enhance formal-associative priming in native speakers of English, and to disrupt, rather selectively, semantic-categorical priming in native speakers of Modern Greek, as well as to disrupt the practice-induced facilitation in processing repeatedly associated letter strings. Finally, stimulation of the right neocerebellar Crus I is found to enhance, quite selectively, semantic-associative priming in native speakers of English, while stimulation of the right neocerebellar vermis is shown to disrupt semantic priming altogether. The results are finally discussed in the light of a future research agenda overcoming the technical limitations met here.

<p>Making decisions is fundamental to everything we do, yet it can be impaired in various disorders and conditions. While research into the neural basis of decision-making has flourished in recent years, many questions remain about how decisions are instantiated in the brain. Here we explored how primates make abstract decisions and decisions in social contexts, as well as one way to non-invasively modulate the brain circuits underlying decision-making. We used rhesus macaques as our model organism. First we probed numerical decision-making, a form of abstract decision-making. We demonstrated that monkeys are able to compare discrete ratios, choosing an array with a greater ratio of positive to negative stimuli, even when this array does not have a greater absolute number of positive stimuli. Monkeys’ performance in this task adhered to Weber’s law, indicating that monkeys—like humans—treat proportions as analog magnitudes. Next we showed that monkeys’ ordinal decisions are influenced by spatial associations; when trained to select the fourth stimulus from the bottom in a vertical array, they subsequently selected the fourth stimulus from the left—and not from the right—in a horizontal array. In other words, they begin enumerating from one side of space and not the other, mirroring the human tendency to associate numbers with space. These and other studies confirmed that monkeys’ numerical decision-making follows similar patterns to that of humans, making them a good model for investigations of the neurobiological basis of numerical decision-making. </p><p>We sought to develop a system for exploring the neuronal basis of the cognitive and behavioral effects observed following transcranial magnetic stimulation, a relatively new, non-invasive method of brain stimulation that may be used to treat clinical disorders. We completed a set of pilot studies applying offline low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation to the macaque posterior parietal cortex, which has been implicated in numerical processing, while subjects performed a numerical comparison and control color comparison task, and while electrophysiological activity was recorded from the stimulated region of cortex. We found tentative evidence in one paradigm that stimulation did selectively impair performance in the number task, causally implicating the posterior parietal cortex in numerical decisions. In another paradigm, however, we manipulated the subject’s reaching behavior but not her number or color comparison performance. We also found that stimulation produced variable changes in neuronal firing and local field potentials. Together these findings lay the groundwork for detailed investigations into how different parameters of transcranial magnetic stimulation can interact with cortical architecture to produce various cognitive and behavioral changes.</p><p>Finally, we explored how monkeys decide how to behave in competitive social interactions. In a zero-sum computer game in which two monkeys played as a shooter or a goalie during a hockey-like “penalty shot” scenario, we found that shooters developed complex movement trajectories so as to conceal their intentions from the goalies. Additionally, we found that neurons in the dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex played a role in generating this “deceptive” behavior. We conclude that these regions of prefrontal cortex form part of a circuit that guides decisions to make an individual less predictable to an opponent.</p> / Dissertation

Chronic pain is a major health problem that affects approximately 20% of the adult population, but only 60% of its patients find success in managing their condition. As an alternative therapeutic tool, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has appeared promising in recent literature, with several papers using the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (L-DLPFC) as the stimulation target due to its inherent role in pain modulation. However, the underlying mechanisms of this treatment have never been directly investigated. The thesis intends to explore this question through the application of a combination of tDCS, functional and structural imaging, and an ongoing pain model. The first study investigated the task-free effects of L-DLPFC tDCS by using concurrent arterial spin labeling (ASL) perfusion imaging. Anodal (excitatory) tDCS was associated with an increase in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) of L-DLPFC, while cathodal (inhibitory) tDCS was related to a relative decrease. Regions connected to L-DLPFC, such as thalamus and primary somatosensory cortex, also experienced significant perfusion changes. Further analyses found modulations of L-DLPFC–thalamic functional correlations, which was particularly relevant due to the importance of the thalamus in antinociceptive processing. To understand pain neuromodulation, a robust ongoing pain model was required to serve as a platform for the investigation. Thus, electrical, thermal, and capsaicin stimuli were tested in a series of studies. The former two did not produce an ongoing pain sensation, thus failing to replicate a chronic pain experience on healthy volunteers. However, topical application of capsaicin appeared to induce such a response, which entailed a pain intensity rating between 5 and 7 on a 0-10 visual analogue scale for at least 30 minutes. Careful screening ensued to select capsaicin responders from the cohort, who served as the research volunteers for the remainder of the thesis. Combining these two studies, rCBF changes associated with tDCS-induced pain neuromodulation were then directly investigated with concurrent ASL and the above capsaicin model. Behavioral measurements suggested a significant reduction in pain intensity for the anodal tDCS condition over the sham tDCS condition, which corroborated the results from previous pain-tDCS studies. Modulations of L-DLPFC and thalamic rCBF continued to be observed with anodal tDCS. In addition, the activity of the posterior insula, an indicator of ongoing pain intensity, was higher for the sham tDCS condition than for the anodal tDCS condition. The final study explored the importance of L-DLPFC–thalamic connection in pain modulation with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Probability tractography and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) were used to extract the mean fractional anisotropy (FA) of the tract. As hypothesized, the mean FA values within this tract positively correlated with the pain intensity changes, which indicated that individuals with stronger structural connection enjoyed greater alleviation from L-DLPFC tDCS. As a whole, the above studies suggest that the clinical efficacy of L-DLPFC tDCS in pain treatment may arise from the resulting top-down modulation of the thalamus. Further studies on chronic pain patients may offer further verification of the mechanism that has been proposed in this thesis.

Foram analisados os efeitos da manobra de preensão manual (PM) na autorregulação encefálica (AE) dinâmica, através de um método não estacionário que utiliza o modelo de autorregressão de médias móveis. Doze indivíduos saudáveis foram orientados a realizar a manobra de PM durante 11 minutos com contração muscular constante e carga de 30% da força máxima. Registraram-se continuamente as medidas da velocidade do fluxo sanguíneo nas artérias cerebrais médias, pressão parcial de CO2 (PCO2) no ar expirado e pressão arterial (PA) não invasiva, durante o repouso (5 min), PM (3 min) e recuperação (3 min). A pressão crítica de fechamento (PCrF) e o produto área-resistência (PAR) foram obtidos empregando-se o método do primeiro harmônico. O índice de autorregulação encefálica (IAE) variável no tempo foi calculado através do modelo da autorregressão de médias móveis. As variáveis foram expressas em porcentagem de variação em relação aos valores obtidos no repouso (30 s previamente ao início da manobra de PM). Não houve alteração significativa da PCO2 do ar expirado durante MP. A PA aumentou continuamente durante a manobra (27% dos valores basais), enquanto que a velocidade do fluxo sanguíneo encefálico elevou-se inicialmente e alcançou um platô (15% dos valores basais). A elevação da PA aumentou o PAR, possivelmente devido à vasoconstricção arteriolar encefálica, o que refletiria a atuação do componente miogênico na regulação do fluxo sanguíneo encefálico; por outro lado, a PCrF reduziu-se, o que representa a ação do mecanismo metabólico. O IAE apresentou diminuição tanto no início quanto ao fim da manobra de PM; este achado pode estar relacionado à reação de alerta e/ou à diferença no tempo de resposta dos mecanismos envolvidos na adaptação neurovascular (mecanismos miogênico, metabólico e neurogênico). Conclui-se que o estudo da AE dinâmica com o modelo da autorregressão de médias móveis, durante a manobra de PM, pode ampliar os conhecimentos acerca das modificações hemodinâmicas encefálicas durante o exercício e elucidar aspectos ainda pouco conhecidos da resposta fisiológica do organismo / We investigated the effect of handgrip (HG) maneuver on time-varying estimates of dynamic cerebral autoregulation (CA), using the autoregressive moving average (ARMA) technique. Twelve healthy subjects were recruited to perform HG maneuver during 3 minutes with 30% of maximum contraction force. Cerebral blood flow velocity, end-tidal CO2 pressure (PETCO2), and noninvasive arterial blood pressure (ABP) were continuously recorded during baseline, HG and recovery. Critical closing pressure (CrCP), resistance areaproduct (RAP), and time-varying autoregulation index (ARI) were obtained. PETCO2 did not show significant changes during HG maneuver. Whilst ABP increased continuously during the maneuver, to reach 27% of its baseline value, CBFV raised to a plateau approximately 15% above baseline. This was sustained by a parallel increase in RAP, suggestive of myogenic vasoconstriction, and a reduction in CrCP that could be associated with metabolic vasodilation. The time-varying ARI index dropped at the beginning and end of the maneuver (p<0.005), which could be related to corresponding alert reactions or to different time constants of the myogenic, metabolic and/or neurogenic mechanisms. Changes in dynamic CA during HG suggest a complex interplay of regulatory mechanisms during static exercise that should be considered when assessing the determinants of cerebral blood flow and metabolism

Potenciais evocados somatossensitivos e motores são modalidades de testes neurofisiológicos com capacidade para avaliar funcionalmente a integridade das vias sensoriais e motoras, respectivamente, podendo ser utilizados na avaliação neurológica, no estabelecimento de prognóstico e na monitoração da evolução de uma lesão na medula espinhal. Este trabalho visa descrever as técnicas de obtenção de potenciais evocados com estimulação elétrica em cães portadores de doença de disco intervertebral toracolombar, e verificar se há associação com os sinais clínicos e com os achados da tomografia computadorizada (TC). Cinco cães hígidos (grupo controle) e dez cães condrodistróficos com paralisia de membros pélvicos (grupo afetado) devido à extrusão de disco intervertebral toracolombar foram avaliados com relação à classificação neurológica, imagens por TC e potenciais evocados somatossensitivos e motores sob anestesia geral. Presença ou ausência de registros caudais à lesão, mensuração de latências e amplitudes foram efetuadas. Foram captados registros cranianos em todos os cães após estimulação dos membros torácicos, mas apenas em seis cães após estimulação dos membros pélvicos. Da mesma forma, todos os cães apresentaram registros em membros torácicos após estimulação transcraniana, mas apenas em seis cães nos membros pélvicos e esfíncter anal. Houve diferença significativa quanto à presença ou ausência de registros entre os grupos afetado e controle para os membros pélvicos. Os valores mensurados de latência e amplitudes entre os grupos também são discutidos. Potenciais evocados e motores são factíveis de serem produzidos em cães com e sem paralisia de membros pélvicos sob anestesia geral, e foram correlacionados aos sinais clínicos. / Somatosensory and motor evoked potentials are neurophysiologic tests that assesse the integrity of sensory and motor pathways, and may be used in the neurological assessment, prognosis establishment and spinal cord injury monitoration. This study aims to describe the technique for evoked potentials recording with electrical stimulation in healthy dogs and in dogs with thoracolumbar intervertebral disc disease, and determine whether there is any association with clinical signs and computed tomography (CT) findings. Five clinically normal dachshunds (control group) and ten chondrodystrophic dogs with hind limb paralysis (affected group) due to thoracolumbar intervertebral disc extrusions were evaluated according to their neurological status, CT scans and somatosensory and motor evoked potentials under general anesthesia. Recordings presence or absence caudal to lesion, onset latencies and peak-to-peak amplitudes were measured. Records were captured in the scalp in all dogs after front limb stimulation, but only in six dogs after hind limb stimulation. Likewise, in all dogs records were obtained in forelimbs after transcranial stimulation, but only in six dogs on pelvic limbs and on external anal sphincter muscle. There were significant differences in presence or absent recordings between affected and control groups related to pelvic limbs PESS and PEM. Latencies and amplitudes measured between groups are discussed. Somatosensory and motor evoked potentials are feasible to produce in dogs with or without hind limb paralysis under general anesthesia, and correlated with clinical signs.

A articulação temporomandibular (ATM) representa a ligação da mandíbula com o crânio, ela é uma das articulações mais complexas do corpo humano, devido aos complicados mecanismos envolvidos em seu funcionamento, podendo levar a alta incidência de disfunção temporomandibular (DTM). As DTMs envolvem o sistema mastigatório, afetando músculos, articulações e estruturas relacionadas. São classificadas em DTM muscular, DTM articular e DTM mista (muscular e articular). Subdividindo a DTM articular encontramos a hipermomibilidade condilar ou subluxação, caracterizada pelo deslocamento da cabeça da mandíbula além da eminência articular durante a abertura bucal, condição que predispõe a ATM à sobrecarga mecânica e instabilidade de suas estruturas. Portanto, o objetivo deste estudo foi analisar a relação entre hipermobilidade condilar e abertura bucal máxima, através de radiografias transcranianas. Foram traçadas 57 radiografias transcranianas da ATM, totalizando 114 traçados de articulações temporomandibulares. Sobre o traçado foram confeccionadas retas verticais e paralelas que passaram pelo ponto mais convexo da cabeça da mandíbula na posição de boca aberta e pelo ponto mais convexo da eminência articular. A distância entre as duas retas foi obtida através de paquímetro digital, assim como a medida da abertura bucal máxima durante a tomada radiográfica. Os dados foram analisados estatisticamente através de análise descritiva, teste de correlação e regressão. Foi encontrada uma moderada correlação entre abertura bucal máxima e deslocamento condilar, a média entre as medidas de máxima abertura bucal foi 42,5mm e de deslocamento condilar 5,3mm. Concluindo, o aumento na medida de abertura bucal promove o aumento no deslocamento da cabeça da mandíbula para além do ápice da eminência articular durante o movimento de máxima abertura bucal. / The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is the link between the mandible and skull. The TMJ is considered one of the most complex joint in the human body due to the complex mechanisms involved in its joint function, which may cause the high incidence of temporomandibular disorder (TMD). The TMDs involves the masticatory system, affecting muscles, joints and related structures. The TMDs are classified in muscular TMD, joint TMD and mixed TMD (muscle and joint). In the subdivision of the joint TMD, we can find the condylar hypermobility or subluxation, which is characterized by head of the mandible displacement jointly with the articular eminence during mouth opening, predisposing the TMJ to mechanical overload and structural instability. Furthermore, the aim of this study was to analyze the relation between condylar hypermobility and maximum mouth opening, using transcranial radiographs. Fifty-seven transcranial radiographs of TMJ and one hundred and fourteen temporomandibular joint were traced. Vertical and parallel straight were made through the most convex point of head of the mandible with maximum mouth opening and the most convex point of articular eminence. The distance between straights and the maximum mouth opening during radiographic were measured by digital caliper. The data were analyzed through descriptive analysis, correlation test and regression test. The results indicated a moderate correlation between maximum mouth opening and condylar displacement. The mean value of maximum mouth opening was 42,5mm, and the mean value of condylar displacement was 5,3mm. In conclusion, the increase in the measurement of mouth opening caused increase in displacement of the head of mandible, which is beyond of the articular eminence apex during maximum movement of mouth opening.