Functional connectivity analysis of different subtypes of Parkinson′s disease / 中华神经科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the changed brain areas of functional connectivity ( FC ) patterns of subthalamic nucleus ( STN) between different subtypes of Parkinson′s disease ( PD) and healthy controls and their clinical significance .Methods Twenty-three PD patients and 12 health controls were enrolled, and PD patients were divided into 11 tremor dominant PD patients and 12 postural instability and gait disorder (PIGD) dominant PD patients.The difference of whole-brain resting-state FC with STN among the three groups was investigated and the relationship between the changed areas and clinical symptoms was calculated.Results Compared with healthy controls , PIGD dominant group showed increased FC between STN and right calcarine and decreased FC between STN and right precuneus , and tremor dominant PD patients showed decreased FC between STN and precuneus , right angular gyrus and left middle frontal gyrus , while the FC strength between the STN and left middle frontal gyrus showed positive relationship with MMSE scores ( r=0.64, P=0.034 ) .Compared with tremor dominant PD patients , PIGD dominant patients showed increased FC in the area of left calcarine .Conclusions Decreased FC between STN and precuneus was gained in different subtypes of PD , and PIGD dominant patients showed increased FC between STN and calcarine.Changed areas based on the FC of STN in different subtypes of PD were found related with cognition and mood control .