Insular and limbic abnormal functional connectivity in early-stage Parkinson’s disease patients with autonomic dysfunction

• DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae270
• Publication Date: 2024-07-05T08:16:57Z
• Authors: Matteo Conti; Elena Garasto; Roberta Bovenzi; Valerio Ferrari; Nicola B Mercuri; Francesca Di Giul...; Rocco Cerroni; Mariangela Pieran...; Tommaso Schirinzi; Alessandro Stefani; Camilla Rocchi
• Keywords: Limbic system

Abstract Autonomic symptoms in Parkinson’s disease result from variable involvement of the central and peripheral systems, but many aspects remain unclear. The analysis functional connectivity has shown promising results assessing pathophysiology disease. This study aims to investigate association between autonomic cortical early patients using high-density EEG. 53 (F/M 18/35) 49 controls 20/29) were included. evaluated Scales for Outcomes disease–Autonomic Dysfunction score. Data recorded with a 64-channel EEG system. We analyzed connectivity, based on weighted phase-lag index, θ-α-β-low-γ bands. A network-based statistic was used perform linear regression score patients. observed positive relation α-functional (network τ = 2.8, P 0.038). Regions higher degrees insula limbic lobe. Moreover, we found correlations mean this network gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, thermoregulatory domains Dysfunction. Our revealed abnormal specific areas greater symptoms. Insula play significant role regulation Increased these regions might represent compensatory mechanism dysfunction