Brain activity of the emotional circuit in Parkinson's disease patients with freezing of gait.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Emotional processes might influence freezing of gait (FoG) in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. We assessed brain functional MRI (fMRI) activity during a "FoG-observation-task" in PD-FoG patients relative to healthy controls.

Methods

Twenty-four PD-FoG patients and 18 age- and sex-matched healthy controls performed clinical and neuropsychological evaluations, and fMRI experiments including: i) "FoG-observation-task" consisting of watching a patient experiencing FoG during a walking task (usually evoking FoG); ii) "gait-observation-task" consisting of watching a healthy subject performing similar walking tasks without experiencing FoG.

Results

During both tasks, PD-FoG patients showed reduced activity of the fronto-parietal mirror neuron system (MNS) relativ

SUBMITTER: Sarasso E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8045031 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature