Gait variability is linked to the atrophy of the Nucleus Basalis of Meynert and is resistant to STN DBS in Parkinson's disease.

Gait variability is linked to the atrophy of the Nucleus Basalis of Meynert and is resistant to STN DBS in Parkinson's disease. Neurobiol Dis. 2020 Oct 09;:105134 Authors: Wilkins KB, Parker JE, Bronte-Stewart HM Abstract Parkinson's disease (PD) is a systemic brain disorder where the cortical cholinergic network begins to degenerate early in the disease process. Readily accessible, quantitative, and specific behavioral markers of the cortical cholinergic network are lacking. Although degeneration of the dopaminergic network may be responsible for deficits in cardinal motor signs, the control of gait is a complex process and control of higher-order aspects of gait, such as gait variability, may be influenced by cognitive processes attributed to cholinergic networks. We investigated whether swing time variability, a metric of gait variability that is independent from gait speed, was a quantitative behavioral marker of cortical cholinergic network integrity in PD. Twenty-two individuals with PD and subthalamic nucleus (STN) deep brain stimulation (PD-DBS cohort) and twenty-nine age-matched controls performed a validated stepping-in-place (SIP) task to assess swing time variability off all therapy. The PD-DBS cohort underwent structural MRI scans to measure gray matter volume of the Nucleus Basalis of Meynert (NBM), the key node in the cortical cholinergic network. In order to determine the role of the dopaminergic system on swing time ...
Source: Neurobiology of Disease - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Neurobiol Dis Source Type: research