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Functional MRI to Study Gait Impairment in Parkinson’s Disease: a Systematic Review and Exploratory ALE Meta-Analysis

  • Neuroimaging (N. Pavese, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

Whilst gait impairment is a main cause for disability in Parkinson’s disease (PD), its neural control remains poorly understood. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies of surrogate features of gait in PD.

Findings

Assessing the results from PET or SPECT scans after a period of actual walking as well as fMRI during mental imagery or virtual reality (VR) gait paradigms, we found a varying pattern of gait-related brain activity. Overall, a decrease in activation of the SMA during gait was found in PD compared to elderly controls. In addition, the meta-analysis showed that the most consistent gait-related activation was situated in the cerebellar locomotor region (CLR) in PD.

Summary

Despite methodological heterogeneity, the combined neuroimaging studies of gait provide new insights into its neural control in PD, suggesting that CLR activation likely serves a compensatory role in locomotion.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Robert Hardwick for assisting with the ALE meta-analysis.

Funding

MG is supported by a Postdoctoral Mandate of the KU Leuven Internal Fund; AN and BWD are supported by Flanders Research Funds (G086715N), ND is supported by Jacques & Gloria Gossweiler Foundation, SJGL is supported by a NHMRC–Australia Research Council dementia fellowship (#1110414).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, KU Leuven, Tervuursevest 101, PO Box1501, Leuven, Belgium

    Moran Gilat, Bauke W. Dijkstra, Nicholas D’Cruz & Alice Nieuwboer

  2. Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    Simon J. G. Lewis

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  1. Moran Gilat
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Correspondence to Moran Gilat.

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Conflict of Interest

Moran Gilat, Bauke W. Dijkstra, Nicholas D’Cruz, Alice Nieuwboer and Simon JG Lewis each declare no potential conflicts of interest.

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Gilat, M., Dijkstra, B.W., D’Cruz, N. et al. Functional MRI to Study Gait Impairment in Parkinson’s Disease: a Systematic Review and Exploratory ALE Meta-Analysis. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep 19, 49 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11910-019-0967-2

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