Disruptions of cortico-kinematic interactions in Parkinson's disease

The cortical role of the motor symptoms reflected by kinematic characteristics in Parkinson's disease (PD) is poorly understood. In this study, we aim to explore how PD affects cortico-kinematic interactions. Electroencephalographic (EEG) and kinematic data were recorded from seven healthy participants and eight participants diagnosed with PD during a set of self-paced finger tapping tasks. Event-related desynchronization (ERD) was compared between groups in the α (8-14 Hz), low-ß (14-20 Hz), and high-ß (20-35 Hz) frequency bands to investigate between-group differences in the cortical activities associated with movement. Average kinematic peak amplitudes and latencies were extracted alongside Sample Entropy (SaEn), a measure of signal complexity, as variables for comparison between groups. These variables were further correlated with average EEG power in each frequency band to establish within-group interactions between cortical motor functions and kinematic motor output. High ß-band power correlated with mean kinematic peak latency and signal complexity in the healthy group, while no correlation was found in the PD group. Also, the healthy group demonstrated stronger ERD in the broad ß-band than the PD participants. Our results suggest that cortical ß-band power in healthy populations is graded to finger tapping latency and complexity of movement, but this relationship is impaired in PD. These insights could help further enhance our understanding of the role of cortical ß-band oscillations in healthy movement and the possible disruption of that relationship in PD. These outcomes can provide further directions for treatment and therapeutic applications and potentially establish cortical biomarkers of Parkinson's disease.