Parkinson’s Disease and Neurology

A new study in the journal Nature reports that Parkinson’s disease appears to disrupt a specific brain network that links movement and cognition, called the somato‑cognitive action network (SCAN), helping explain why patients often have problems with sleep, smell, digestion and thinking in addition to tremors. Researchers led by Hesheng Liu at Changping Laboratory and Peking University analyzed MRI data from more than 800 people and found abnormally strong connections between the SCAN network and other brain regions known to be affected in Parkinson’s, a pattern they liken to a traffic jam that blocks normal signal flow. The team then showed that deep brain stimulation immediately reduced this abnormal connectivity and that levodopa and other standard treatments also modulated the SCAN network, suggesting therapies may work in part by normalizing network activity rather than just targeting isolated motor areas. Outside experts, including University of Pittsburgh neurobiologist Peter Strick, say the findings reinforce the view of Parkinson’s as a network disorder, much like Alzheimer’s and ALS affect other distinct brain networks. The work could eventually change how doctors diagnose and treat Parkinson’s in the roughly 1 million Americans living with the disease by shifting the focus toward network‑level interventions and better explaining patients’ puzzling on‑again, off‑again symptoms.