Department of Neurology, Laboratory of Neurodegenerative Disorders, National Clinical Research Center for Geriatrics, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Guoxuexiang 37#, Wuhou, Chengdu 610041, China.
National Clinical Research Center for Geriatrics (WCH), West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Guoxuexiang 37#, Wuhou, Chengdu 610041, China.
Cereb Cortex. 2024 Nov 5;34(11). doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhae429.
Slow gait speed and disrupted brain network connectivity are common in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). This study aimed to clarify the relationship between gait speed and clinical characteristics in PD, and explore the underlying brain network mechanisms. Forty-two PD patients and 20 healthy controls (HC) were recruited. Statistical independent component analysis and correlation analysis were employed to investigate underlying neural mechanisms and relationships. PD patients exhibited significantly slower gait speed, which showed a significant negative correlation with postural instability and gait disturbance scores. Network connectivity analysis revealed decreased intranetwork functional connectivity (FC) within visual network (VN) and cerebellum network (CN), but increased internetwork FC between CN and both sensorimotor network (SMN) and frontoparietal network (FPN) in PD patients compared to HC. The slow gait speed PD subgroup demonstrated increased intranetwork FC within SMN and VN, along with decreased FC between VN and both FPN and default mode network. Correlation analyses revealed negative correlation between gait speed and FC of CN and positive correlation to FC of CN-SMN. Our study identified relationships between gait speed and clinical characteristics, and corresponding network connectivity alterations in PD patients, providing insights into the neural mechanisms underlying gait impairments in PD.
慢步态速度和大脑网络连接中断在帕金森病（PD）患者中很常见。本研究旨在阐明 PD 患者步态速度与临床特征之间的关系，并探讨潜在的大脑网络机制。招募了 42 名 PD 患者和 20 名健康对照者（HC）。采用统计独立成分分析和相关分析来研究潜在的神经机制和关系。PD 患者的步态速度明显较慢，与姿势不稳和步态障碍评分呈显著负相关。网络连接分析显示，与 HC 相比，PD 患者的视觉网络（VN）和小脑网络（CN）内的内部网络功能连接（FC）降低，但 CN 与感觉运动网络（SMN）和额顶网络（FPN）之间的外部网络 FC 增加。与 HC 相比，步态速度较慢的 PD 亚组表现出 SMN 和 VN 内的内部网络 FC 增加，以及 VN 与 FPN 和默认模式网络之间的 FC 降低。相关分析显示，步态速度与 CN 的 FC 呈负相关，与 CN-SMN 的 FC 呈正相关。我们的研究确定了 PD 患者步态速度与临床特征之间的关系以及相应的网络连接改变，为 PD 患者步态障碍的神经机制提供了深入了解。
