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Resting state interactions in cortico-subcortical networks in PD patients 

Vladimir Litvak (PI), Karl Friston (PI), Francesca Castaldo

fMRI and recently also MEG research on resting state cortical FC has revealed a number of distinct networks of brain areas tending to synchronise their activity. These networks have been related to structural brain connectivity as well as to gender, pathology, genetics and other aspects of brain function. However, due to methodological limitations of MEG and fMRI, a gap in knowledge presently exists with respect to whether and how subcortical structures are involved in these networks. We aim at closing this gap using combined intracranial LFP and MEG recordings in DBS-implanted PD patients and state-of-the-art MEG resting state network analyses. Using coherence as the measure of functional coupling our group has recently characterised two distinct resting state oscillatory networks coherent with the subthalamic nucleus, a common DBS target for the treatment of PD: a frontal motor network coupled in the upper beta band and a temporal-brainstem network coupled in the alpha band. The proposed project will focus on linking our findings with the known resting state cortical networks revealed by MEG power correlations and finding correlates of clinical impairment as well as those of inter-individual differences such as the gender, handedness and age.