Real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging neurofeedback for treatment of Parkinson's disease

Subramanian, Leena, Hindle, John Vincent, Johnston, Stephen, Roberts, Mark V., Husain, Masud, Goebel, Rainer and Linden, David Edmund Johannes ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5638-9292 2011. Real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging neurofeedback for treatment of Parkinson's disease. Journal of Neuroscience 31 (45) , pp. 16309-16317. 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3498-11.2011

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Abstract

Self-regulation of brain activity in humans based on real-time feedback of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signal is emerging as a potentially powerful, new technique. Here, we assessed whether patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) are able to alter local brain activity to improve motor function. Five patients learned to increase activity in the supplementary motor complex over two fMRI sessions using motor imagery. They attained as much activation in this target brain region as during a localizer procedure with overt movements. Concomitantly, they showed an improvement in motor speed (finger tapping) and clinical ratings of motor symptoms (37% improvement of the motor scale of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale). Activation during neurofeedback was also observed in other cortical motor areas and the basal ganglia, including the subthalamic nucleus and globus pallidus, which are connected to the supplementary motor area (SMA) and crucial nodes in the pathophysiology of PD. A PD control group of five patients, matched for clinical severity and medication, underwent the same procedure but did not receive feedback about their SMA activity. This group attained no control of SMA activation and showed no motor improvement. These findings demonstrate that self-modulation of cortico-subcortical motor circuits can be achieved by PD patients through neurofeedback and may result in clinical benefits that are not attainable by motor imagery alone.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (CNGG) Medicine Psychology Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute (NMHRI)
Subjects:	R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Publisher:	Society for Neuroscience
ISSN:	0270-6474
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Last Modified:	11 Oct 2023 19:04
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/28863

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