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Progression of cortical thinning in early Parkinson's disease

Naroa Ibarretxe-Bilbao1, Carme Junque, Barbara Segura

  • 1Centro de Investigación en Red de Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

Movement Disorders : Official Journal of the Movement Disorder Society
|November 6, 2012
PubMed

Insights

Early Parkinson's disease (PD) shows significant gray-matter loss and frontotemporal cortical thinning. These changes, including amygdalar atrophy, are linked to the disease process, not cognitive decline in early stages.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroimaging
  • Neurology
  • Neurodegeneration

Background:

  • Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder.
  • Early detection of neurodegeneration is crucial for understanding PD progression.
  • Brain structure changes in early PD are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the progression of cortical thinning and gray-matter (GM) volume loss in early Parkinson's disease (PD).
  • To associate specific neuroanatomical changes with the PD-degenerative process.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal MRI and neuropsychological assessments in 16 early-PD patients and 15 controls.
  • FreeSurfer software for cortical thickness and volumetric analyses.
  • Voxel-based morphometry (SPM8) for GM volume changes.

Main Results:

  • Early PD patients exhibited greater regional cortical thinning in frontotemporal areas compared to controls.
  • PD patients showed greater over-time total GM loss and amygdalar volume reduction.
  • Cognitive functioning changes were similar between PD patients and controls over time.

Conclusions:

  • Global GM loss, amygdalar atrophy, and frontotemporal cortical thinning are associated with the PD-degenerative process.
  • These structural changes occur independently of cognitive decline in early PD.
  • Neuroimaging can identify early structural markers of Parkinson's disease progression.

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