Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease that is associated with many motor impairments such as tremors, rigidity, and in some cases, freezing of gait (FOG), which are episodes in which patient's feet appear glued to the ground. The purpose of this study was to investigate the functional connectivity between different motor brain areas and the basal ganglia in PD patients with and without FOG. Preliminary results show that patients with FOG demonstrate increased thalamic-subcortical connectivity, but decreased cortical connectivity with subcortical regions. Furthermore, decreased functional connectivity between the SMA and subthalamic nuclei in patients with FOG may represent a less efficient capacity to inhibit competing motor programs and to initiate the right movement.