Anatomical abnormalities suggest a compensatory role of the cerebellum in early Parkinson's disease
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Yun, Jenna
Gailly de Taurines, Anastasia
Tai, Yen Foung
Haar, Shlomi
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Brain atrophy is detected in early Parkinson's disease (PD) and accelerates over the first few years post-diagnosis. This was captured by multiple cross-sectional studies and a few longitudinal studies in early PD. Yet only a longitudinal study with a control group can capture accelerated atrophy in early PD and differentiate it from healthy ageing. Accordingly, we performed a multicohort longitudinal analysis between PD and healthy ageing, examining subcortical regions implicated in PD pathology, including the basal ganglia, thalamus, corpus callosum (CC), and cerebellum. Longitudinal volumetric analysis was performed on 56 early PD patients and 53 matched controls, with scans collected 2–3 years apart. At baseline, the PD group showed a greater volume in the pallidum, thalamus, and cerebellar white matter (WM), suggesting potential compensatory mechanisms in prodromal and early PD. After 2–3 years, accelerated atrophy in PD was observed in the putamen and cerebellar WM. Interestingly, healthy controls – but not PD patients – demonstrated a significant decline in Total Intracranial Volume (TIV), and atrophy in the thalamus and mid-CC. Between-group analysis revealed more severe atrophy in the right striatum and cerebellar WM in PD, and in the mid-posterior CC in controls. Using CEREbellum Segmentation (CERES) for lobule segmentation on the longitudinal PD cohort, we found a significant decline in the WM of non-motor regions in the cerebellum, specifically Crus I and lobule IX. Our results highlight an initial increase in cerebellar WM volume during prodromal PD, followed by significant degeneration over the first few years post-diagnosis.
Date Issued
2025-04-15
Date Acceptance
2025-03-04
Citation
NeuroImage, 2025, 310
ISSN
1053-8119
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
NeuroImage
Volume
310
Copyright Statement
© 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Identifier
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121121
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
121121
Date Publish Online
2025-03-05