Functional connectivity between lateral premotor-parietal circuits and the cardiac autonomic system in Parkinson's disease

This study aimed to investigate which cerebral cortices are involved in the central autonomic network and how they are linked to the peripheral (cardiac) autonomic network in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and normal controls. 26 PD patients with autonomic dysfunction and 23 age- and sex-matched controls were evaluated by simultaneous spectral analysis of electroencephalography (EEG) and electrocardiography (ECG) recording along with autonomic questionnaires. Although the PD group has significantly more symptoms of autonomic dysfunction, frequency-domain HRV can not differentiate these two groups. However, different patterns of central oscillation and their correlation with peripheral autonomic indices could be found for the two groups. While the power of specific EEG bands under electrodes F4, F7, Cz and Pz (parietal-lateral premotor cortex, which is considered as a compensatory area for the relative deficiency of mesial frontal-striatal circuits in PD) correlated significantly with the power of peripheral heart rate variability (HRV) indices in the PD group, those under electrodes C3, P3, P4 and F8 had significant correlation in the control group. In conclusion, functional connectivity between areas of cerebral cortex and peripheral autonomic system can be measured and differs between PD patients with autonomic dysfunction and healthy controls. The central autonomic network may play a role in brain re-organization in PD patients with autonomic dysfunction.