Publication

Internally Guided Lower Limb Movement Recruits Compensatory Cerebellar Activity in People With Parkinson's Disease

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Last modified
  • 05/22/2025
Type of Material
Authors
    Jonathan H. Drucker, Atlanta VA Center for Visual and Neurocognitive RehabilitationKrish Sathian, Emory UniversityBruce A. Crosson, Emory UniversityVenkatagiri Krishnamurthy, Emory UniversityKeith McGregor, Emory UniversityAriyana Bozzorg, Atlanta VA Center for Visual and Neurocognitive RehabilitationKaundinya Gopinath, Emory UniversityLisa C. Krishnamurthy, Atlanta VA Center for Visual and Neurocognitive RehabilitationSteven Wolf, Emory UniversityAriel R. Hart, Emory UniversityMarian L Evatt, Emory UniversityDaniel M. Corcos, Northwestern UniversityMadeleine Hackney, Emory University
Language
  • English
Date
  • 2019-06-07
Publisher
  • Frontiers Media
Publication Version
Copyright Statement
  • © 2019 Drucker, Sathian, Crosson, Krishnamurthy, McGregor, Bozzorg, Gopinath, Krishnamurthy, Wolf, Hart, Evatt, Corcos and Hackney.
License
Final Published Version (URL)
Title of Journal or Parent Work
ISSN
  • 1664-2295
Volume
  • 10
Start Page
  • 537
End Page
  • 537
Grant/Funding Information
  • We acknowledge the Emory Center for Health in Aging and the Emory University Center for Systems Imaging. Supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number UL1TR002378.
  • Department of Veterans Affairs R&D Service Career Development Award IK2RX000870 supported this work and ME Hackney.
  • Support for KS contribution to this work was provided by the Atlanta VAMC.
  • This work was supported in part by funding from a Shared Instrumentation Grant (S10) grant 1S10OD016413-01 to the Emory University Center for Systems Imaging Core and by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health Award UL1TR000454.
  • The National Science Foundation Emerging Frontiers in Research Initiatives (EFRI) award number 1137229 and the Atlanta Center for Visual and Neurocognitive Rehabilitation supported JD.
  • The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Abstract
  • Background: Externally guided (EG) and internally guided (IG) movements are postulated to recruit two parallel neural circuits, in which motor cortical neurons interact with either the cerebellum or striatum via distinct thalamic nuclei. Research suggests EG movements rely more heavily on the cerebello-thalamo-cortical circuit, whereas IG movements rely more on the striato-pallido-thalamo-cortical circuit (1). Because Parkinson's (PD) involves striatal dysfunction, individuals with PD have difficulty generating IG movements (2). Objectives: Determine whether individuals with PD would employ a compensatory mechanism favoring the cerebellum over the striatum during IG lower limb movements. Methods: 22 older adults with mild-moderate PD, who had abstained at least 12 h from anti-PD medications, and 19 age-matched controls performed EG and IG rhythmic foot-tapping during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants with PD tapped with their right (more affected) foot. External guidance was paced by a researcher tapping participants' ipsilateral 3rd metacarpal in a pattern with 0.5 to 1 s intervals, while internal guidance was based on pre-scan training in the same pattern. BOLD activation was compared between tasks (EG vs. IG) and groups (PD vs. control). Results: Both groups recruited the putamen and cerebellar regions. The PD group demonstrated less activation in the striatum and motor cortex than controls. A task (EG vs. IG) by group (PD vs. control) interaction was observed in the cerebellum with increased activation for the IG condition in the PD group. Conclusions: These findings support the hypothesized compensatory shift in which the dysfunctional striatum is assisted by the less affected cerebellum to accomplish IG lower limb movement in individuals with mild-moderate PD. These findings are of relevance for temporal gait dysfunction and freezing of gait problems frequently noted in many people with PD and may have implications for future therapeutic application.
Author Notes
  • Correspondence: Madeleine E. Hackney madeleine.hackney@gmail.com Present Address: K. Sathian, Department of Neurology, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, United States
Keywords
Research Categories
  • Health Sciences, Rehabilitation and Therapy
  • Health Sciences, Radiology

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