Magnetic resonance imaging of functional connectivity in Parkinson disease in the resting brain

Objective To investigate functional connectivity changes in Parkinson disease in the resting brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging.Methods Nine patients with Parkinson disease and eight age-matched healthy volunteers were entered into the study.The bilateral globus pallidus were chosen as seed points, the functional MR data acquired in the resting state were processed to investigate functional connectivity in PD patients and the results were compared with those of the controls.Results In age-matched healthy controls, there are regions which had functional connectivity with bilateral globus pallidus, including bilateral temporal poles, bilateral hippocampus, bilateral thalami, posterior cingulate cortex, right middle occipital gyrus and fight superior parietal gyms.In PD patients, brain regions including bilateral cerebellum, left hippocampus, bilateral superior temporal gyri, left inferior frontal gyms, left middle frontal gyms, left precentral gyms, left inferior parietal gyrus and left superior parietal gyms, had functional connectivity with bilateral globus pallidus. Compared to healthy controls, increased functional connectivity in bilateral cerebellum, bilateral temporal lobes, left frontal lobe and left parietal lobe, and decreased functional connectivity in bilateral thalami were observed in PD patients.Conclusion Abnormal changes of brain functional connectivity exists in Parkinson's disease in the resting state. Key words: Parkinson disease; Magnetic resonance imaging