Abnormalities of reactivity of posterior resting‐state electroencephalographic alpha rhythms during eyes opening in patients with dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease
Claudio Del Percio, Roberta Lizio, Susanna Lopez, Federico Tucci, Giuseppe Noce, Dharmendra Jakhar, Bahar Güntekin, Görsev Yener, John‐Paul Taylor, Claudio Babiloni- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
- Geriatrics and Gerontology
- Neurology (clinical)
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Health Policy
- Epidemiology
Abstract
Background
Patients with dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease (ADD) and Parkinson’s disease (PDD) suffer from vigilance dysregulation. We hypothesized that such dysregulation may be reflected by altered reactivity of posterior resting‐state electroencephalographic (rsEEG) alpha rhythms during the vigilance transition from eyes‐closed to ‐open condition.
Method
A Eurasian database provided clinical, demographic, and rsEEG datasets in 73 PDD patients, 35 ADD patients, and 25 matched cognitively unimpaired (Healthy) persons. The eLORETA freeware was used to estimate cortical rsEEG sources at delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma frequency bands during eyes‐closed and‐open conditions.
Result
Results showed substantial (> ‐10%) reduction (reactivity) in the posterior alpha source activities from the eyes‐closed to the eyes‐open condition in 88% of the Healthy seniors, 57% of the ADD patients, and only 35% of the PDD patients (Figure 1). In these alpha‐reactive participants, there were lower reductions in the posterior alpha activities in the ADD and PDD groups than in the Healthy group. That reduction in the parietal region was lower in the PDD than in the ADD group (Figure 2).
Conclusion
These results suggest that ADD and PDD is characterized by poor reactivity of mechanisms desynchronizing posterior rsEEG alpha rhythms in response to visual inputs. This finding could be an interesting biomarker of impaired vigilance regulation in the quiet wakefulness in ADD and PDD patients. Such biomarkers may provide endpoints targets for pharmacological intervention and brain electromagnetic stimulations to improve the ADD and PDD patients’ general ability to regulate vigilance and visual primary consciousness in the activities of daily living.