Altered cerebellum functional network on newly diagnosed drug-naive Parkinson's disease patients with anxiety

Introduction-Damage to the cerebellar functional net-work may underlie anxiety symptoms in patients withParkinson'sdisease(PD). Herein we investigated theregional homogeneity(ReHo)and functional connec-tivity(FC)patterns of cerebellar and clinical correlatesin PD patients with anxiety and explored their clinicalsignificance.Methods-We enrolled 50 newly diagnosed drug-naivePD patients and 30 normal controls(NCs). Twenty-six PDpatients with anxiety symptoms(PD-A)and 24 PD patientswithout anxiety symptoms(PD-NA)were sorted into groupsbased on the Hamilton Anxiety Scale(HAMA).Allincludedparticipants underwent rest-state functional magnetic reso-nance imaging(rs-fMRI)scanning. Cerebellar FC based onthe seed-based method was used to investigate regionaland whole brain function in PD-A, PD-NA, and NCs, andthe relationship between the abnormal brain function andanxiety symptoms in PD patients was also detected.Results-Compared with the PD-NA group and the NCs,the ReHo value of the PD-A group was significantly decreased in the left medial frontal gyrus and increasedin the left cerebellum. Further, left-cerebellum-based FCpatterns were used to detect the decreased FC in the rightcerebellum, while FC was increased in the right caudatenucleus, and the right anterior cingulate cortex(ACC)inthe PD-A group was compared with that in the PD-NAgroup. Further, the altered FC between the left cere-bellum and the right cerebellum was significantly asso-ciated with anxiety symptoms in the PD-A group.Conclusion-The present study found abnormal regionalcerebellum function as well as disruptions in the connec-tivity network within the cerebellum, caudate, and ACC inpatients with PD-A. In addition, the FC between the leftcerebellum and the right cerebellum was associated withanxietysymptomsinpatientswithPD.Thepresentstudyindicated that cerebellar functional damage may be asso-ciated with anxiety symptoms in PD patients