Category: Parkinson's Disease: Neuroimaging
Objective: We aim to compare the state of cortical-NBM functional connectivity across healthy control (HC), PIGD-predominant PD (PIGD-PD), and tremor-dominant PD (TD-PD). Additionally, the correlation between PIGD severity and the strength of cortical-NBM connectivity is investigated.
Background: Structural MRI and cholinergic-based PET studies on early-stage PD subjects showed that the degeneration of the cortically-projecting cholinergic nucleus and its associated white matter tracts, the nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM), is a significant predictor for the progression of postural-instability-and-gait-disorders of Parkinson’s disease (PIGD-PD).
Method: We analyzed the resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) data of healthy control (HC) and PD subjects obtained from the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) database. PD subjects were dichotomized into PIGD-PD and TD-PD based on their predominant motor impairment at the time of image acquisition. Seed-based analysis with the NBM as the region-of-interest is conducted. Cortical and subcortical structures that show high functional connectivity with the NBM will be included to investigate in the effective connectivity analyses by means of dynamic causal modeling.
Results: Twenty HC and 101 PD subjects with at least one rs-fMRI and the MDS-UPRDS II and III data were included in the study. We are currently working on the seed-based analyses of the rs-fMRI data to find any distinctive pattern between PIGD-PD and TD-PD relative to HC.
Conclusion: We hypothesize that the NBM functional connectivity pattern to several cortical areas will be different between HC, PIGD-PD, and TD-PD. If proven, this study will provide further evidence on the significant role of the cholinergic NBM pathology in PD, in support of previous structural MRI and PET studies.
References: Wilson, J., Yarnall, A.J., Craig, C.E., Galna, B., Lord, S., Morris, R., Lawson, R.A., Alcock, L., Duncan, G.W., Khoo, T.K., O’Brien, J.T., Burn, D.J., Taylor, J.-P., Ray, N.J. and Rochester, L. (2021), Cholinergic Basal Forebrain Volumes Predict Gait Decline in Parkinson’s Disease. Mov Disord, 36: 611-621. https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.28453
Nazmuddin M, van Dalen JW, Borra RJH, Stormezand GN, van der Horn HJ, van der Zee S, Boertien J, van Laar T. Postural and gait symptoms in de novo Parkinson’s disease patients correlate with cholinergic white matter pathology. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2021 Dec;93:43-49. doi: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2021.11.010. Epub 2021 Nov 12. PMID: 34784526.
Bohnen, N.I., Kanel, P., Zhou, Z., Koeppe, R.A., Frey, K.A., Dauer, W.T., Albin, R.L. and Müller, M.L. (2019), Cholinergic system changes of falls and freezing of gait in Parkinson’s disease. Ann Neurol, 85: 538-549. https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.25430
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
M. Nazmuddin, P. Zeidman, T. van Laar. The distinctive functional connectivity of the cholinergic nucleus basalis of Meynert in Parkinson’s disease across different motor subtypes [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2022; 37 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-distinctive-functional-connectivity-of-the-cholinergic-nucleus-basalis-of-meynert-in-parkinsons-disease-across-different-motor-subtypes/. Accessed June 15, 2025.« Back to 2022 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-distinctive-functional-connectivity-of-the-cholinergic-nucleus-basalis-of-meynert-in-parkinsons-disease-across-different-motor-subtypes/