Whole-Head Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy as an Ecological Monitoring Tool for Assessing Cortical Activity in Parkinson’s Disease Patients at Different Stages
Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is increasingly employed as an ecological neuroimaging technique in assessing age-related chronic neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), mainly providing a cross-sectional characterization of clinical phenotypes in ecological settings....
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2022-11-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Molecular Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/23/14897 |
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| author | Augusto Bonilauri Francesca Sangiuliano Intra Federica Rossetto Francesca Borgnis Giuseppe Baselli Francesca Baglio |
| author_facet | Augusto Bonilauri Francesca Sangiuliano Intra Federica Rossetto Francesca Borgnis Giuseppe Baselli Francesca Baglio |
| author_sort | Augusto Bonilauri |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is increasingly employed as an ecological neuroimaging technique in assessing age-related chronic neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), mainly providing a cross-sectional characterization of clinical phenotypes in ecological settings. Current fNIRS studies in PD have investigated the effects of motor and non-motor impairment on cortical activity during gait and postural stability tasks, but no study has employed fNIRS as an ecological neuroimaging tool to assess PD at different stages. Therefore, in this work, we sought to investigate the cortical activity of PD patients during a motor grasping task and its relationship with both the staging of the pathology and its clinical variables. This study considered 39 PD patients (age 69.0 ± 7.64, 38 right-handed), subdivided into two groups at different stages by the Hoehn and Yahr (HY) scale: early PD (ePD; N = 13, HY = [1; 1.5]) and moderate PD (mPD; N = 26, HY = [2; 2.5; 3]). We employed a whole-head fNIRS system with 102 measurement channels to monitor brain activity. Group-level activation maps and region of interest (ROI) analysis were computed for ePD, mPD, and ePD vs. mPD contrasts. A ROI-based correlation analysis was also performed with respect to contrasted subject-level fNIRS data, focusing on age, a Cognitive Reserve Index questionnaire (CRIQ), disease duration, the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), and performances in the Stroop Color and Word (SCW) test. We observed group differences in age, disease duration, and the UPDRS, while no significant differences were found for CRIQ or SCW scores. Group-level activation maps revealed that the ePD group presented higher activation in motor and occipital areas than the mPD group, while the inverse trend was found in frontal areas. Significant correlations with CRIQ, disease duration, the UPDRS, and the SCW were mostly found in non-motor areas. The results are in line with current fNIRS and functional and anatomical MRI scientific literature suggesting that non-motor areas—primarily the prefrontal cortex area—provide a compensation mechanism for PD motor impairment. fNIRS may serve as a viable support for the longitudinal assessment of therapeutic and rehabilitation procedures, and define new prodromal, low-cost, and ecological biomarkers of disease progression. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T17:45:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-74d5aab339fb4c3694597879b9522ae8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1661-6596 1422-0067 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T17:45:31Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
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| spelling | doaj.art-74d5aab339fb4c3694597879b9522ae82023-11-24T11:09:44ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences1661-65961422-00672022-11-0123231489710.3390/ijms232314897Whole-Head Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy as an Ecological Monitoring Tool for Assessing Cortical Activity in Parkinson’s Disease Patients at Different StagesAugusto Bonilauri0Francesca Sangiuliano Intra1Federica Rossetto2Francesca Borgnis3Giuseppe Baselli4Francesca Baglio5Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milan, ItalyIRCCS Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi ONLUS, CADITER, 20148 Milan, ItalyIRCCS Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi ONLUS, CADITER, 20148 Milan, ItalyIRCCS Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi ONLUS, CADITER, 20148 Milan, ItalyDepartment of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milan, ItalyIRCCS Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi ONLUS, CADITER, 20148 Milan, ItalyFunctional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is increasingly employed as an ecological neuroimaging technique in assessing age-related chronic neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), mainly providing a cross-sectional characterization of clinical phenotypes in ecological settings. Current fNIRS studies in PD have investigated the effects of motor and non-motor impairment on cortical activity during gait and postural stability tasks, but no study has employed fNIRS as an ecological neuroimaging tool to assess PD at different stages. Therefore, in this work, we sought to investigate the cortical activity of PD patients during a motor grasping task and its relationship with both the staging of the pathology and its clinical variables. This study considered 39 PD patients (age 69.0 ± 7.64, 38 right-handed), subdivided into two groups at different stages by the Hoehn and Yahr (HY) scale: early PD (ePD; N = 13, HY = [1; 1.5]) and moderate PD (mPD; N = 26, HY = [2; 2.5; 3]). We employed a whole-head fNIRS system with 102 measurement channels to monitor brain activity. Group-level activation maps and region of interest (ROI) analysis were computed for ePD, mPD, and ePD vs. mPD contrasts. A ROI-based correlation analysis was also performed with respect to contrasted subject-level fNIRS data, focusing on age, a Cognitive Reserve Index questionnaire (CRIQ), disease duration, the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), and performances in the Stroop Color and Word (SCW) test. We observed group differences in age, disease duration, and the UPDRS, while no significant differences were found for CRIQ or SCW scores. Group-level activation maps revealed that the ePD group presented higher activation in motor and occipital areas than the mPD group, while the inverse trend was found in frontal areas. Significant correlations with CRIQ, disease duration, the UPDRS, and the SCW were mostly found in non-motor areas. The results are in line with current fNIRS and functional and anatomical MRI scientific literature suggesting that non-motor areas—primarily the prefrontal cortex area—provide a compensation mechanism for PD motor impairment. fNIRS may serve as a viable support for the longitudinal assessment of therapeutic and rehabilitation procedures, and define new prodromal, low-cost, and ecological biomarkers of disease progression.https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/23/14897continuous wave functional near-infrared spectroscopyrehabilitation monitoringbrain activation mappingmotor tasksfunctional near-infrared signal processingParkinson Disease |
| spellingShingle | Augusto Bonilauri Francesca Sangiuliano Intra Federica Rossetto Francesca Borgnis Giuseppe Baselli Francesca Baglio Whole-Head Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy as an Ecological Monitoring Tool for Assessing Cortical Activity in Parkinson’s Disease Patients at Different Stages International Journal of Molecular Sciences continuous wave functional near-infrared spectroscopy rehabilitation monitoring brain activation mapping motor tasks functional near-infrared signal processing Parkinson Disease |
| title | Whole-Head Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy as an Ecological Monitoring Tool for Assessing Cortical Activity in Parkinson’s Disease Patients at Different Stages |
| title_full | Whole-Head Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy as an Ecological Monitoring Tool for Assessing Cortical Activity in Parkinson’s Disease Patients at Different Stages |
| title_fullStr | Whole-Head Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy as an Ecological Monitoring Tool for Assessing Cortical Activity in Parkinson’s Disease Patients at Different Stages |
| title_full_unstemmed | Whole-Head Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy as an Ecological Monitoring Tool for Assessing Cortical Activity in Parkinson’s Disease Patients at Different Stages |
| title_short | Whole-Head Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy as an Ecological Monitoring Tool for Assessing Cortical Activity in Parkinson’s Disease Patients at Different Stages |
| title_sort | whole head functional near infrared spectroscopy as an ecological monitoring tool for assessing cortical activity in parkinson s disease patients at different stages |
| topic | continuous wave functional near-infrared spectroscopy rehabilitation monitoring brain activation mapping motor tasks functional near-infrared signal processing Parkinson Disease |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/23/14897 |
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