Abstract
BackgroundRestless legs syndrome (RLS) is a sensorimotor neurological disorder characterized by an irresistible urge to move the legs. It has been reported that RLS patients show cognitive deficits, presumably due to hyperactivity causing loss of attention, or malfunctions in the frontal region resulting from sleep deprivation. However, the mechanism underlying cognitive deficits in RLS patients is mostly unknown. As an effort to clarifying this, we investigated the differences in neural activity and phase synchrony between healthy controls and RLS patients during cognitive task performances.Methodology/Principal FindingsSeventeen female drug-naive RLS patients were enrolled in the study, and an age-matched group of thirteen healthy female volunteers served as controls. Multichannel event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from RLS patients and normal controls while performing a visual oddball task. In addition to conventional analyses of ERP waveforms and spectra, interregional gamma-band phase synchrony (GBPS) was investigated to observe the differences in interregional neural synchronies between normal and RLS patient groups. Strong GBPS was observed primarily between anterior and posterior regions along the midline for both groups. Along with significant reduction and delay of P300 ERP and induced gamma-band activity (GBA), the GBPS was considerably decreased in RLS patients compared to normal subjects, especially at frontal region.ConclusionsOverall, our results support that cognitive dysfunction in RLS patients is associated with reduced interregional neural synchrony as well as alterations in local neural activity.
Highlights
Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a sensorimotor neurological disorder characterized by an irresistible urge to move the legs
Overall, our results support that cognitive dysfunction in RLS patients is associated with reduced interregional neural synchrony as well as alterations in local neural activity
It has been recently shown that cognitive deficits are associated with RLS [4,5], which have been attributed to chronic partial sleep deprivation affecting prefrontal brain functions [4], or the inattentiveness caused by RLS symptoms [6]
Summary
Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a sensorimotor neurological disorder characterized by an irresistible urge to move the legs. Contradictory results can be found in the literature [5], and it is likely that neither sleep loss nor inattentiveness alone can explain the cognitive deficits observed in RLS patients. Tyvaert et al [8] observed that the amplitudes and durations of event-related synchronization/desynchronization in the beta and mu bands were greater during the symptomatic period for RLS patients compared to controls. Significant neuroanatomical alteration in RLS patients was reported, including regional decreases in gray matter volume in the primary somatosensory and motor cortices [9]. It has been reported that RLS patients show cognitive deficits, presumably due to hyperactivity causing loss of attention, or malfunctions in the frontal region resulting from sleep deprivation. As an effort to clarifying this, we investigated the differences in neural activity and phase synchrony between healthy controls and RLS patients during cognitive task performances
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