Cortical Control of Coupling Between Posture and Gait in Parkinson's disease

• Grant number: 13/15256-0
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): December 01, 2013
• Effective date (End): October 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Medical Radiology
• Principal researcher: Edson Amaro Junior
• Grantee: Andréa Cristina de Lima Pardini
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FM). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs)impairments during step initiation is one of the most incapacitating symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD). Despite evidences that improve the understanding of the basal ganglia dysfunction resulting from the dopamine depletion, the APAs alterations and their neural substrates are not well known in patients with PD. Recent behavior studies evidences suggest that cortical areas are involved in the control of posture and gait; however, there is lack of studies investigating the connectivity in functional resonance imaging tasks specifically during the execution (and not the imagination) of lower limbs movement. The present study aim at investigating cerebral motor regions involved in postural response abnormality in patients with PD. Noteworthy is the utilization of a functional resonance imaging paradigm similar to the condition of step initiation during the gait and the cerebral connectivity analysis to the understanding of the neural alterations in PD. This combination will allow the achievement of essential information to the understanding of the physiopathology of gait and is an important step to new proposed treatments of the coupling between posture (APAs) and movement (step) during gait in PD.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

DE LIMA-PARDINI, ANDREA C.; COELHO, DANIEL B.; NUCCI, MARIANA P.; BOFFINO, CATARINA C.; BATISTA, ALANA X.; DE AZEVEDO NETO, RAYMUNDO M.; SILVA-BATISTA, CARLA; BARBOSA, EGBERTO R.; COHEN, RAJAL G.; HORAK, FAY B.; TEIXEIRA, LUIS A.; AMARO, JR., EDSON. Brain networks associated with anticipatory postural adjustments in Parkinson's disease patients with freezing of gait. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL, v. 28, 2020. Web of Science Citations: 0.

DE LIMA-PARDINI, ANDREA CRISTINA; ZIMEO MORAIS, GUILHERME A.; BALARDIN, JOANA BISOL; COELHO, DANIEL BOARI; AZZI, NAMETALA MAIA; TEIXEIRA, LUIS AUGUSTO; SATO, JOAO RICARDO. Measuring cortical motor hemodynamics during assisted stepping - An fNIRS feasibility study of using a walker. GAIT & POSTURE, v. 56, p. 112-118, JUL 2017. Web of Science Citations: 3.

DE LIMA-PARDINI, ANDREA CRISTINA; DE AZEVEDO NETO, RAYMUNDO MACHADO; COELHO, DANIEL BOARI; BOFFINO, CATARINA COSTA; SHERGILL, SUKHWINDER S.; SOUZA, CAROLINA DE OLIVEIRA; BRANT, RACHAEL; BARBOSA, EGBERTO REIS; CARDOSO, ELLISON FERNANDO; TEIXEIRA, LUIS AUGUSTO; COHEN, RAJAL G.; HORAK, FAY BAHLING; AMARO, JR., EDSON. An fMRI-compatible force measurement system for the evaluation of the neural correlates of step initiation. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, v. 7, FEB 23 2017. Web of Science Citations: 7.