Altered Regional Homogeneity In Cerebellum-visual-motor Cortex In Sleep Disorder Parkinson’s Disease

ObjectiveRapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder(RBD) frequently occurs in Parkinson’s disease(PD), however, the exact pathophysiological mechanism underlying it occurrence is not clear. Previous studies have shown that widespread cortical regions may be involved in the mechanism of RBD in PD. Resting-state functional MRI(RS-fMRI) can be used to measure spontaneous neuronal activity, and in this study, we want to explored special brain circuit in PD patients with RBD using RS-fMRI.MethodsWe recruited 38 PD patients(19 PD with RBD and 19 PD without RBD), and 20 age- and gender-matched normal controls. We utilized two important measures in RS-fMRI, regional homogeneity and functional connectivity, to analyze neuronal activity in all subjects.ResultsCompared with the PD without RBD patients, the PD with RBD patients showed a significant increasein regional homogeneity in the left cerebellum, the right middle occipital region, and the left middle temporal region, and decreased regional homogeneity in the left middle frontal region. The functional connectivity analysis, in which the four regions described above were used as regions of interest revealed increased functional activity between the left cerebellum and bilateral occipital regions, bilateral temporal regions and bilateral supplementary motor area. Increased functional connectivity was also observed between right middle occipital regions andthe bilateral cerebellum. We also found decreased functional connectivity between left middle frontal regions and the bilateral caudate in the PD with RBD patients.ConclusionIn PD patients, RBD may be related to abnormal brain activity of cerebellum-visual-motor-cortex circuit.