Category: Parkinson's disease: Neuroimaging
Objective: To characterize objective gastric motility disorder (GMD) in early-stage Parkinson’s disease (PD) and explore the underlying central neural network and structural alterations using multimodal fMRI.
Background: GMD is a prominent manifestation of PD disrupting the brain-gut axis, yet its central neuromodulatory mechanisms remain elusive.
Method: 56 early-stage PD patients and 26 healthy controls (HCs) underwent electrogastrography (EGG), gastric emptying ultrasound and rs-fMRI. Based on objective results, PD patients were categorized into PD-GMD and PD-nGMD subgroups. Seed-based functional connectivity (FC) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analyses were performed to identify central alterations and their correlations with gastric parameters.
Results: Compared to PD-nGMD, the PD-GMD group exhibited delayed antral gastric emptying rates (GER) and reduced EGG power ratios (PR) across all leads, alongside higher dysrhythmia (all P < 0.05). Neuroimaging revealed specific central reorganizations: the PD-GMD group showed significantly increased FC between the gastric network and left basal ganglia, and decreased FC between the gastric network and bilateral occipital lobes/cerebellum. Structurally, PD-GMD patients exhibited reduced gray matter volume (GMV) in the temporal and postcentral gyri. Crucially, these aberrant FC and GMV metrics correlated significantly with objective EGG parameters and clinical assessments.
Conclusion: Early-stage PD features significant objective GMD linked to specific structural atrophy and functional uncoupling within central sensorimotor and “gastric” networks, highlighting a profound brain-gut axis disruption.
FC differences seeded in left anterior insula
FC differences seeded in the stomach network (1)
FC differences seeded in the stomach network (2)
GMV differences between PD-GMD and PD-nGMD
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
J-Y. Jin, X-Y. Cheng, C-J. Mao, C-F. Liu. Objective Characteristics and Brain Network Alterations in Early-Stage Parkinson’s Disease with Gastric Motility Disorder [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2026; 41 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/objective-characteristics-and-brain-network-alterations-in-early-stage-parkinsons-disease-with-gastric-motility-disorder/. Accessed October 1, 2026.« Back to 2026 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/objective-characteristics-and-brain-network-alterations-in-early-stage-parkinsons-disease-with-gastric-motility-disorder/