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Abstract Details

Brain Functional Plasticity of the Limbic Circuit in Parkinson’s Disease Patients with Freezing of Gait
Movement Disorders
P4 - Poster Session 4 (5:30 PM-6:30 PM)
3-016
To assess brain functional MRI (fMRI) activity during an “empathy” task in Parkinson’s disease patients with Freezing of Gait (PD-FoG) relative to healthy controls (HC).
Emotional processing is known to be involved in PD-FoG patients, but no studies have explored empathy experience in these patients.
Twenty-four PD-FoG patients were recruited and performed clinical and neuropsychological evaluations and fMRI. Eighteen age- and sex-matched HC were also included and underwent the neuropsychological assessment and the fMRI scan. PD-FoG patients and HC performed two fMRI tasks: i) the “empathy task” consisted of watching a patient who experienced FoG during a walking task usually evoking FoG; ii) the “control task” consisted of watching a healthy subject performing similar walking tasks (e.g., turning or walking through narrow spaces) without experiencing FoG. HC were emotively educated to the FoG phenomenon before undergoing the fMRI scan. 
PD-FoG patients had cognitive deficits relative to HC particularly in attention/working memory and executive functions. During the empathy task, PD-FoG patients showed reduced activity of the sensorimotor part of the mirror neuron system (MNS) relative to HC. When comparing the empathy task with the control task activity, PD-FoG revealed increased recruitment of the right anterior prefrontal cortex and decreased activity of the left inferior parietal cortex during the “empathy task”, while HC showed increased recruitment of the anterior prefrontal cortex during the “empathy task” and of the MNS during the “control task”.
Our results suggested that when PD-FoG patients observe a subject experiencing FoG, there is increased brain activity in the limbic part of the MNS. This finding might suggest an involvement of the limbic circuit and, thus, of the emotional processes in the mechanisms underlying FoG in PD.  
Authors/Disclosures
Elisabetta Sarasso
PRESENTER 		Elisabetta Sarasso has nothing to disclose.
Federica Agosta (San Raffaele Scientific Institute) Federica Agosta has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving on a Speakers Bureau for Philips. Federica Agosta has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving as an Editor, Associate Editor, or Editorial Advisory Board Member for Elsevier INC.
Noemi Piramide, MSc (Neuroimaging Research Unit, Institute of Experimental Neurology, Division of Neu) Noemi Piramide has nothing to disclose.
Elisa Canu (Ospedale San Raffaele) The institution of Elisa Canu has received research support from Italian Ministry of Health .
No disclosure on file
Massimo Filippi, MD, FÂ鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ (Ospedale San Raffaele, Neuroimaging Research Unit) Dr. Filippi has received personal compensation in the range of $5,000-$9,999 for serving as a Consultant for Alexion, Almirall, Biogen, Merck, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi. Dr. Filippi has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving on a Scientific Advisory or Data Safety Monitoring board for Alexion, Biogen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi, Sanofi-Aventis, Sanofi-Genzyme, Takeda. Dr. Filippi has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving on a Speakers Bureau for Bayer, Biogen, Celgene, Chiesi Italia SpA, Eli Lilly, Genzyme, Janssen, Merck-Serono, Neopharmed Gentili, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Roche, Sanofi, Takeda, and TEVA. Dr. Filippi has received personal compensation in the range of $10,000-$49,999 for serving as an Editor, Associate Editor, or Editorial Advisory Board Member for Springer Nature. The institution of Dr. Filippi has received research support from Biogen Idec, Merck-Serono, Novartis, Roche, the Italian Ministry of Health, the Italian Ministry of University and Research, and Fondazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla.