ID 305 – Effect of levodopa on resting state functional connectivity in Parkinson’s disease: A partial least squares correlation study

Abstract

Objective We performed partial least squares correlation (PLSC) analysis to study functional connectivity in resting-state networks (RSN) in PD patients. Methods We acquired rs-fMRI data in PD patients (18 non-demented and non-depressed males) in the ON and OFF medication conditions and rs-fMRI data in healthy controls (15 males). We chose 2 coordinates for motor seeds and 6 coordinates for non-motor seeds. We extracted the BOLD signals and computed their correlations. These correlations were analyzed by PLSC. Results The PLSC analysis revealed significant impact of the disease on the connectivity strength of spatial correlation maps seeded by R caudate ( p  = 0.047), anterior cingulate cortex ( p  = 0.006), right middle temporal gyrus/middle occipital gyrus ( p  =  0.045), and R orofacial SM1 ( p  = 0.025). The connectivity in PD patients within all studied networks decreased in most of the brain regions as compared to HC. Conclusions We observed impact of the disease (PD vs. HC status). Connectivity in PD was decreased as compared with HC and was detected in a number of large-scale brain networks including the motor, insular, ventral visual, and the default mode networks. Key message PLSC is able to detect differences in RSN between PD patients and HC.