Objective: ​​​​​​1.  Do patients with PD experience changes in cortical beta bursts in both the low and high β frequency bands?

2.  Are bursts of different durations suitable to differentiate between groups?

Background: Beta bursts (BB) are transient increases in oscillations in the β-band, which play an important role in the control of motor and cognitive functions. In Parkinson’s disease (PD), BB occur more frequently in subcortical regions such as the subthalamic nucleus or the pallidum than in healthy controls and show increased duration and amplitude. Furthermore, subcortical BB show frequency-specific dynamics – with distinct patterns in the low and high beta band – and correlate with motor symptoms of PD. At the cortical level, however, BB are less well understood and results vary widely between studies. Therefore, further studies are needed to understand the relationship between cortical BB and the pathophysiology of PD.

Method: Fifteen patients with PD and 13 healthy controls (HC) underwent MRI and 128-channel EEG recordings at rest, before and after levodopa intake. Source reconstruction was used to extract signals from motor network regions (M1, SMA, lPM, DLPFC). BB were defined by applying a threshold method with the 50^th, 60^th, 70^th, 75^th and 80^th percentiles of the overall amplitude distribution. Further, bursts were sorted by duration. Statistical group analyses were performed on BB of all lengths and BB of each duration bin.

Results: Preliminary results show that patients with PD OFF medication had lower burst rates compared to HC (p=.028), with a trend toward lower rates compared to the ON medication state (p=.085). No difference in burst rate was observed between HC and PD patients ON medication (p=.358). After medication intake, patients with PD also showed longer BB duration compared to HC (p=.035).

Results of BB of different durations are still pending.

Conclusion: These results suggest that cortical motor network BB occurrence is reduced in patients OFF medication, contrary to findings in subcortical regions. Furthermore, levodopa therapy prolonged burst duration compared to HC. Cortical motor network burst rate should therefore be further explored as a potential marker of PD.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/characteristics-of-cortical-beta-bursts-in-parkinsons-disease/