Cerebral Metabolic Changes Related to Freezing of Gait in Parkinson Disease

Freezing of gait (FOG) in Parkinson disease (PD) often occurs during steering of gait (i.e., complex gait), which is thought to arise from executive dysfunction. Our aim was to test whether cognitive corticobasal ganglia-thalamocortical circuitry is impaired and whether alternate neural circuits are used for complex gait in PD with FOG. Methods: Eighteen individuals with idiopathic PD in the off-medication state, 9 with FOG (aged 68 ± 6 y) and 9 without FOG (aged 65 ± 5 y), were included. PET was used to measure cerebral glucose metabolism during 2 gait tasks, steering and straight walking, performed during the radiotracer uptake period. Results: During steering, there was a reduced change in cerebral glucose metabolism within the cognitive corticothalamic circuit. More specifically, those with FOG had less activation of the posterior parietal cortex, less deactivation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and thalamus, and increased activation in the supplementary motor area. Interestingly, activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex correlated with gait impairment (i.e., reduced stride length) in the FOG group. Conclusion: These results demonstrate decreased parietal control and an alternate control mechanism mediated by prefrontal and supplementary motor areas in PD with FOG.