Global Neuroscience Institute, 1 Medical Center Blvd., Ambulatory Pavilion, Suit 232, Chester, PA 19013, United States.
Neurosci Lett. 2021 Aug 24;760:136105. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2021.136105. Epub 2021 Jul 8.
Degenerative diseases alter brain activity and functional connectivity. In this issue of the Neuroscience Letters, Yin and others (2021) [6] present data showing increased activity in lobules VIII and IX of the cerebellar vermis in Parkinson's patients with visuospatial disorders. The study refines the fMRI mapping of the cerebellum, but the functional interpretation of the findings remains complex. The architecture and connectivity of the cerebellum set it apart from the rest of the brain and should be considered when interpreting the functional connectivity data. In degenerative diseases, the cerebellum suffers from the same pathology as the cerebral cortex; hence, it is unlikely that changes in the cerebellum could ameliorate clinical symptoms in degenerative diseases. Clinical, surgical data indicate that the primary function of the cerebellum is motor, not cognition or affective. The cerebellar anatomy buttresses these observations. The cerebellum receives direct motor-related inputs but no direct information from the sensory system. Hence, it likely contributes to the behavioral components of emotions and cognition.
退行性疾病会改变大脑活动和功能连接。在本期《神经科学快报》中，Yin 等人（2021）[6]展示了帕金森病患者存在视空间障碍时，小脑蚓部VIII 和 IX 叶活动增加的数据。该研究细化了小脑的 fMRI 图谱，但研究结果的功能解释仍然很复杂。小脑的结构和连接使其有别于大脑的其他部分，在解释功能连接数据时应加以考虑。在退行性疾病中，小脑与大脑皮层遭受相同的病理变化；因此，小脑的变化不太可能改善退行性疾病的临床症状。临床和手术数据表明，小脑的主要功能是运动，而不是认知或情感。小脑解剖结构支持这些观察结果。小脑接收直接与运动相关的输入，但没有来自感觉系统的直接信息。因此，它可能有助于情感和认知的行为成分。
