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Dynamic Digital Biomarkers of Motor and Cognitive Function in Parkinson's Disease
10:28

Dynamic Digital Biomarkers of Motor and Cognitive Function in Parkinson's Disease

Published on: July 24, 2019

Functional brain changes in early Parkinson's disease during motor response and motor inhibition

Francesca Baglio1, Valeria Blasi, Andrea Falini

  • 1Don Carlo Gnocchi Foundation, Scientific Institute and University, IRCCS, 20148 Milan, Italy.

Neurobiology of Aging
|February 4, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Early Parkinson's disease (PD) patients show altered brain activity in motor and visual areas, even without cognitive symptoms. These functional changes in the fronto-striatal and occipital cortices may indicate compensatory mechanisms and early visual deficits.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Neurology

Background:

  • Parkinson's disease (PD) primarily manifests as motor impairment.
  • Cognitive deficits, particularly in executive functions and visuo-spatial abilities, are common in PD patients.
  • Early detection of neural changes is crucial for understanding PD progression.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate brain activation patterns in early Parkinson's disease (PD) patients using functional MRI (fMRI).
  • To compare neural responses during a visual attention and motor inhibition task between early PD patients and healthy controls.
  • To identify subclinical functional brain alterations in PD.

Main Methods:

  • Event-related functional MRI (fMRI) was employed.
  • A Go/NoGO task assessing visual attention and motor inhibition was used.
  • 13 early PD patients and 11 healthy controls participated.

Main Results:

  • No significant behavioral differences were observed between groups.
  • PD patients exhibited increased prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia activation during motor inhibition (NoGO-effect).
  • PD patients showed reduced and less coherent hemodynamic response in the occipital cortex.

Conclusions:

  • Early PD is associated with functional changes in cortico-subcortical networks, including fronto-striatal and temporal-occipital regions.
  • Observed fronto-striatal changes may represent compensatory mechanisms.
  • Altered occipital cortex activity suggests preclinical visuo-perceptual deficits, potentially linked to visual hallucinations.

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