Mov Disord.: 7T MRI found impaired structural connectivity between brainstem nuclei in patients with REM sleep behavior disorder

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) is one of the early manifestations of alpha synucleinopathies
.

The brainstem pathophysiological basis of REM sleep behavior disorder has been described in animal models, but has not been adequately studied in humans due to the lack of in vivo brainstem nuclear atlas and limited magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sensitivity

María G.
García-Gomar et al.
used in vivo probabilistic brainstem nuclei atlas and 7TMRI to study changes in brainstem structural connectivity in iRBD patients
.

This study presents a probabilistic representation of structural connectivity in 12 iRBD patients and 12 control patients
.

Two-sided Wilcoxon rank-sum tests were used to compare the structural connectivity indices between groups

Structural connectivity of 14 nuclei in the brainstem was impaired in iRBD (Z = 2.
6, P<0.
01), including connections between REM-on areas and REM sleep hypotonia .

Structural connectivity of 14 nuclei in the brainstem was impaired in
iRBD (Z = 2.

6, P<0.
01), including connections between REM-on areas and REM sleep hypotonia .

This study's discovery of a map of impaired brainstem-nuclear connectivity in human iRBD extends animal models and is a promising tool for the study and assessment of prodromal synucleopathies
.

This study's discovery of a map of impaired brainstem-nuclear connectivity in human iRBD extends animal models and is a promising tool for the study and assessment of prodromal synucleopathies
.

This study's discovery of a map of impaired brainstem-nuclear connectivity in human iRBD extends animal models and is a promising tool for the study and assessment of prodromal synucleopathies

García-Gomar MG, Videnovic A, Singh K, et al.

García-Gomar MG, Videnovic A, Singh K, et al.
Disruption of Brainstem Structural Connectivity in REM Sleep Behavior Disorder Using 7 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging [published online ahead of print, 2021 Dec 29].
  Mov Disord .
2021;10.
1002/mds .
28895.
doi:10.
1002/mds.
28895 García-Gomar MG, Videnovic A, Singh K, et al.
Disruption of Brainstem Structural Connectivity in REM Sleep Behavior Disorder Using 7 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging [published online ahead of print, 2021 Dec 29 ].
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