Abstract
Changes in human gait resulting from ageing or neurodegenerative diseases are multifactorial. Here we assess the effects of age and Parkinson’s disease (PD) on corticospinal activity recorded during treadmill and overground walking. Electroencephalography (EEG) from 10 electrodes and electromyography (EMG) from bilateral tibialis anterior muscles were acquired from 22 healthy young, 24 healthy older and 20 adults with PD. Event-related power, corticomuscular coherence (CMC) and inter-trial coherence were assessed for EEG from bilateral sensorimotor cortices and EMG during the double-support phase of the gait cycle. CMC and EMG power at low beta frequencies (13–21 Hz) was significantly decreased in older and PD participants compared to young people, but there was no difference between older and PD groups. Older and PD participants spent shorter time in the swing phase than young individuals. These findings indicate age-related changes in the temporal coordination of gait. The decrease in low-beta CMC suggests reduced cortical input to spinal motor neurons in older people during the double-support phase. We also observed multiple changes in electrophysiological measures at low-gamma frequencies during treadmill compared to overground walking, indicating task-dependent differences in corticospinal locomotor control. These findings may be affected by artefacts and should be interpreted with caution.
Highlights
Changes in human gait resulting from ageing or neurodegenerative diseases are multifactorial
While these studies indicate changes in gait-related brain activity that occur with ageing and Parkinson’s disease (PD), they are limited to imagined gait and may not apply to real walking as participants cannot move during a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan
We investigated corticomuscular activity and coupling in 24 healthy young adults, 24 healthy older adults and 21 individuals with PD, while participants walked at their preferred speed and EEG from 10 cortical sites and EMG from the tibialis anterior (TA) muscles were recorded
Summary
Changes in human gait resulting from ageing or neurodegenerative diseases are multifactorial. The neural mechanisms associated with age- and disease-related gait changes have been investigated using neuroimaging techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and electroencephalography (EEG) Studies using these imaging techniques have shown that gait-related brain activity differs in older adults and people with PD35–40. Regional cerebral blood flow in the supplementary motor area (SMA) was found to be decreased during treadmill walking in people with PD compared to healthy controls as detected by SPECT49 While these studies indicate changes in gait-related brain activity that occur with ageing and PD, they are limited to imagined gait (or recordings after the performance of walking tasks) and may not apply to real walking as participants cannot move during a fMRI scan. STN DBS has been observed to enhance corticomuscular beta-band coherence in people with PD during a precision grip task[89], and levodopa medication during forearm contractions has been found to reduce it[87]
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