Parkinson's disease (PD) in mostly presented with asymmetrical motor symptoms. Disturbed sensorimotor integration and decrease of somatosensory cortex activation
GLM and ICA-based fMRI data analysis in G1/G2/G3 revealed activation of contralateral postcentral gyrus (primary somatosensory cortex, S1c) at the level of ‘hand knob’ (Z=60, MNI152), (G1, G2, G3) (Fig.2, Fig 3.). In several G2/G3 patients activation also was found in ipsilateral S1i, precentral gyrus, at the level of ‘hand knob’ (primary motor area, M1) and supplementary motor area (SMA). In G2/G3 primary (right) hand stimulation evoked more pronounced activation in S1c, S1i, M1, contralateral superior parietal lobule, supramarginal gyrus (SMG). In G3 activation of contralateral ventral premotor area was found during either hand stimulation. In G2/G3 activation of inferior part of pre/postcentral gyri located mainly in the lateral sulcus (secondary somatosensory cortex, S2) was found during the both right and left-hand stimulation. EV3 related activation of SMA was found in G2/G3. ICA analysis revealed increased functional connectivity in the regions of left Globus pallidus (GP), right dorsal premotor cortex (PMd), right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex DLPF in G2 and bilateral PMd, right DLPF, bilateral superior parietal lobuli (SPL) in G3 (Fig.4). Main frequency of the ICA component spectrum for described networks was ν1=2.31x10-2 Hz=ƒ1.
Thus, unlike several other authors7,8,9, we have demonstrated steady contralateral S1 activation in PD (Fig.3). Unlike healthy controls, PD patients demonstrated activation of S2, SMA, SMG and PMv. SMG and PMv are known to form mirror neuron system, which seems to participate in compensatory mechanism in PD. Increased functional connectivity of the GP, PMd, DLPF might reveal tactile-evoked motion suppression in PD, as the DLPF known to control the reaction to the external stimulus10 and executive functions11. Lateralization of somatosensory-related brain activation was decreased in PD.
Conclusion
Primary somatosensory cortex remains steadily active during tactile stimulation in PD, while primary hand tactile stimulation in primary hand lateralized PD patients also evoke activation of primary and associative sensory, motor and executive nodes of the cortex. Tactile stimuli processing evokes increased connectivity of globus pallidus, premotor, prefrontal and parietal cortex.1. Scharoun SM, Bryden PJ, Sage MD, Almeida QJ, Roy EA. The Influence of Parkinson’s Disease Motor Symptom Asymmetry on Hand Performance: An Examination of the Grooved Pegboard Task. Parkinson’s Disease. 2015;2015:307474. doi:10.1155/2015/307474.
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