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Sensorimotor adaptation in Parkinson’s disease: evidence for a dopamine dependent remapping disturbance

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Abstract

Sensorimotor adaptation is thought to involve a remapping of the kinematic and kinetic parameters associated with movements performed within a changing environment. Patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) are known to be affected on this type of learning process, although the specific role of dopamine depletion in these deficits has not yet been elucidated. The present study was an attempt to clarify whether dopamine depletion in PD may directly affect the capacity to internally reorganize the visuomotor remapping of a distorted environment. Fourteen PD patients were tested twice, while they were treated and while they were withdrawn from their regular levodopa treatment. Fourteen control subjects were also enrolled and tested twice. Two parallel forms of the Computed Mirror Pointing Task (CMPT), requiring making a reaching movement in a visually transformed environment (mirror inversion), were administered to each participant. Each of them had to perform 40 trials at each of the 2 testing sessions. At each trial, sensorimotor adaptation was evaluated by the initial direction angle (IDA), which reflects the direction of movement before any visually guided readjustment. Results revealed no IDA difference at baseline, between control subject and PD patients, whether they were treated or not. In all group, IDA values at that time were large, reflecting a tendency to make movements according to the real life visuomotor mapping (based on the natural direct vision). However, striking differences appeared during sensorimotor learning, in that IDA reduction along trials was poorer in patient not treated with levodopa than both control subjects and the same PD patient treated with levodopa. No difference was observed between the treated PD patients and control subjects. Given that IDA is thought to reflect the internal representation of the visuomotor mapping, it is concluded that dopamine depletion in PD would affects sensorimotor adaptation, in that it facilitates old and poorly adapted movements (real life mapping), instead of new and more adapted ones (mirror transformed mapping).

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Mr D. Richard, from DOCO Microsystems Inc. for his technical support. This study was supported by the “Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec” (FRSQ), the Natural and Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Neuropsychology Division, University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), Station Downtown, P.O. Box 8888, Montreal, QC, Canada

    F. Paquet, M. A. Bedard, M. Levesque, P. L. Tremblay & P. Scherzer

  2. Movement Disorder Unit, CHUM, Montreal, Canada

    P. J. Blanchet, S. Chouinard & J. Filion

  3. Department of Stomatology, Faculty of Dental Medicine, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada

    P. J. Blanchet

  4. Marie-Enfant readaptation Center, CHU Sainte-Justine, Bélanger Est, 5200, Montreal, Canada

    M. Lemay

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  1. F. Paquet
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  2. M. A. Bedard
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Correspondence to M. A. Bedard.

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Paquet, F., Bedard, M.A., Levesque, M. et al. Sensorimotor adaptation in Parkinson’s disease: evidence for a dopamine dependent remapping disturbance. Exp Brain Res 185, 227–236 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-007-1147-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-007-1147-1

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