Parkinson's disease: increased motor network activity in the absence of movement

J Neurosci. 2013 Mar 6;33(10):4540-9. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5024-12.2013.

Abstract

We used a network approach to assess systems-level abnormalities in motor activation in humans with Parkinson's disease (PD). This was done by measuring the expression of the normal movement-related activation pattern (NMRP), a previously validated activation network deployed by healthy subjects during motor performance. In this study, NMRP expression was prospectively quantified in (15)O-water PET scans from a PD patient cohort comprised of a longitudinal early-stage group (n = 12) scanned at baseline and at two or three follow-up visits two years apart, and a moderately advanced group scanned on and off treatment with either subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (n = 14) or intravenous levodopa infusion (n = 14). For each subject and condition, we measured NMRP expression during both movement and rest. Resting expression of the abnormal PD-related metabolic covariance pattern was likewise determined in the same subjects. NMRP expression was abnormally elevated (p < 0.001) in PD patients scanned in the nonmovement rest state. By contrast, network activity measured during movement did not differ from normal (p = 0.34). In the longitudinal cohort, abnormal increases in resting NMRP expression were evident at the earliest clinical stages (p < 0.05), which progressed significantly over time (p = 0.003). Analogous network changes were present at baseline in the treatment cohort (p = 0.001). These abnormalities improved with subthalamic nucleus stimulation (p < 0.005) but not levodopa (p = 0.25). In both cohorts, the changes in NMRP expression that were observed did not correlate with concurrent PD-related metabolic covariance pattern measurements (p > 0.22). Thus, the resting state in PD is characterized by changes in the activity of normal as well as pathological brain networks.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Antiparkinson Agents / therapeutic use
  • Brain / diagnostic imaging
  • Brain / drug effects
  • Brain / physiopathology*
  • Brain Mapping*
  • Cerebrovascular Circulation
  • Cohort Studies
  • Deep Brain Stimulation / methods*
  • Deuterium Oxide
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Levodopa / therapeutic use
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Motor Activity / drug effects
  • Motor Activity / physiology*
  • Neural Pathways / drug effects
  • Neural Pathways / physiology
  • Parkinson Disease / diagnostic imaging
  • Parkinson Disease / pathology*
  • Parkinson Disease / physiopathology*
  • Parkinson Disease / therapy
  • Positron-Emission Tomography
  • Subthalamic Nucleus / physiology

Substances

  • Antiparkinson Agents
  • Levodopa
  • Deuterium Oxide