Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 28, 2026

Optogenetic Functional MRI
Published on: April 19, 2016
Resting-state Functional MRI in Parkinsonian Syndromes
Massimo Filippi1,2, Elisabetta Sarasso1,3, Federica Agosta1
1Neuroimaging Research Unit, Institute of Experimental Neurology, Division of Neuroscience, San Raffaele Scientific Institute Vita-Salute San Raffaele University Milan Italy.
Background:
Functional MRI (fMRI) has been widely used to study abnormal patterns of functional connectivity at rest in patients with movement disorders such as idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) and atypical parkinsonisms.
Methods:
This manuscript provides an educational review of the current use of resting-state fMRI in the field of parkinsonian syndromes.
Results:
Resting-state fMRI studies have improved the current knowledge about the mechanisms underlying motor and non-motor symptom development and progression in movement disorders. Even if its inclusion in clinical practice is still far away, resting-state fMRI has the potential to be a promising biomarker for early disease detection and prediction. It may also aid in differential diagnosis and monitoring brain responses to therapeutic agents and neurorehabilitation strategies in different movement disorders.
Conclusions:
There is urgent need to identify and validate prodromal biomarkers in PD patients, to perform further studies assessing both overlapping and disease-specific fMRI abnormalities among parkinsonian syndromes, and to continue technical advances to fully realize the potential of fMRI as a tool to monitor the efficacy of chronic therapies.
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