Akinetic rigid symptoms are associated with decline in a cortical motor network in Parkinson’s disease

The akinetic/rigid (AR) motor subtype of Parkinson’s Disease is associated with increased rates of motor and cognitive decline. Cross-sectional studies examining the neural correlates of AR have found abnormalities in both subcortical and cortical networks involved in motor planning and execution relative to controls. To better understand how these cross-sectional findings are implicated in the unique decline associated with the AR subtype, we examined whether baseline AR symptoms are associated with longitudinal decline of these networks, in contrast to other motor symptoms such as tremor. Using whole brain multiple regression analyses we found that worse AR symptoms at baseline were associated with greater gray matter loss over four years in superior parietal and paracentral lobules and motor cortex. These regions also showed altered connectivity patterns with posterior parietal, premotor, pre-supplementary motor area and dorsolateral prefrontal regions in association with AR symptoms across subjects. Thus, AR symptoms are related to gray matter decline and aberrant functional connectivity in a network of frontal-parietal regions critical for motor planning and execution. These structural and functional abnormalities may therefore be implicated in the more aggressive course of decline associated with the AR relative to tremor-dominant subtype.