Restricted truncal sagittal movements of rapid eye movement behaviour disorder

Iain Duncan,Keyoumars Ashkan,Peter J Goadsby,K Ray Chaudhuri,Silvia Gullone,Danielle Wasserman,Mattia Veronese,Valentina Gnoni,Adam Birdseye,Emine Cigdem Gelegen,Panagis Drakatos,Sean Higgins,Ivana Rosenzweig,Giulio Tononi

doi:10.1038/s41531-022-00292-0

Abstract

Unlike sleep-walkers, patients with rapid-eye-movement-behaviour disorder (RBD) rarely leave the bed during the re-enactment of their dreams. RBD movements may be independent of spatial co-ordinates of the ‘outside-world’, and instead rely on (allocentric) brain-generated virtual space-maps, as evident by patients’ limited truncal/axial movements. To confirm this, a semiology analysis of video-polysomnography records of 38 RBD patients was undertaken and paradoxically restricted truncal/thoraco-lumbar movements during complex dream re-enactments demonstrated.

Highlights

Unlike sleep-walkers, patients with rapid-eye-movement-behaviour disorder (RBD) rarely leave the bed during the re-enactment of their dreams
A case in point is the rapid eye movement (REM) behaviour disorder (RBD), a relatively rare parasomnia that predicts the later occurrence of alpha-synucleinopathies such as Parkinson disease (PD), multiple system atrophy and dementia with Lewy bodies[3]
May contain more aggression than do the dreams of healthy individuals[1]. This violent trait appears in sharp contrast with the commonly equable disposition of RBD patients during wakefulness[1,6]

Summary

Introduction

Unlike sleep-walkers, patients with rapid-eye-movement-behaviour disorder (RBD) rarely leave the bed during the re-enactment of their dreams. Based on our[19] and others[20,21] recent work suggestive of early caudate/striatal[21] and phasic REM changes in RBD patients, we speculate that limited ambulation in RBD reflects an aberrant contribution of the egocentric neural architecture during dream mentation.

Results

Conclusion