Altered Functional Connectivity Between Precuneus and Motor Systems in Parkinson's Disease Patients

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects motor skills and cognition. As brain structure and function are compromised, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can be a helpful tool to further investigate how intrinsic connectivity is impaired on the disease. The precuneus and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) are hub regions involved on the default mode network (DMN), a system that is active during rest and related to cognitive processes. We hypothesized that PD patients would present a decrease in functional connectivity among these two regions and the rest of the brain. Our goal was to identify regions in which functional connectivity to precuneus and mPFC was altered in PD. This study was based on resting-state fMRI data from 37 healthy subjects and 55 PD patients. Precuneus and mPFC were selected as seed regions in a whole brain functional connectivity mapping. As expected, we found abnormal connectivity from precuneus to motor system regions in PD patients, pointing toward a decreased connectivity in the disease. No significant group effects were found for the mPFC. Our findings suggest that internetwork connectivity from DMN to motor system is impaired in PD.