Session Information
Date: Wednesday, June 7, 2017
Session Title: Parkinson's Disease: Cognition
Session Time: 1:15pm-2:45pm
Location: Exhibit Hall C
Objective: We sought to verify that apomorphine infusion did not alter cognitive action control.We sought to verify that apomorphine infusion did not alter cognitive action control.
Background: Subcutaneous infusion of apomorphine is being increasingly used in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients, notably in those with contraindications for subthalamic deep brain stimulation. Though very few studies have investigated the effect of continuous subcutaneous apomorphine infusion on cognitive functions, this treatment is considered to be safe regarding cognition. However, the effect of apomorphine infusion on cognitive action control, and more specifically on the activation and suppression of impulsive responses, has not been studied.
Methods: We investigated cognitive action control using an oculomotor version of the Simon task in a group of 20 PD patients at baseline (M0) and 6 months (M6) after instauration of continuous subcutaneous apomorphine infusion. We used the activation-suppression model to determine whether this treatment had an effect on impulsive error rate in conflict situation or the suppression of such impulsive responses. This experimental paradigm has proved to be efficient in detecting change in cognitive action control in PD.
Results: We found no effect of treatment on the classic congruence effect on both reaction time and accuracy. This showed that the overall conflict resolution was not influenced by continuous subcutaneous apomorphine infusion. Furthermore, the amount of fast errors in the incongruent situation and the last slope of the delta plots (reflecting suppression of impulsive responses) were unaffected by the treatment. Confidence intervals obtained for the treatment effect on these two measures fell below the range of usual meaningful effects.
Conclusions: Our results revealed no difference between M0 and M6 and strongly suggest that continuous subcutaneous apormorphine infusion does not alter cognitive action control. Both the selection and suppression mechanisms of impulsive responses were unaffected. This is in line with previous studies reporting that apomorphine is safe regarding cognitive functions.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
J. Duprez, J.-F. Houvenaghel, S. Drapier, D. Drapier, M. Vérin, P. Sauleau. Apomorphine infusion does not impair cognitive action control in Parkinson’s disease [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2017; 32 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/apomorphine-infusion-does-not-impair-cognitive-action-control-in-parkinsons-disease/. Accessed June 14, 2025.« Back to 2017 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/apomorphine-infusion-does-not-impair-cognitive-action-control-in-parkinsons-disease/