Electrophysiological evidence for visuocognitive dysfunction in younger non caucasian patients with Parkinson's disease

Abstract

A study of "primary" (VEPs) and "cognitive" (ERPs) visual evoked potentials was carried out in a group of non-demented Afro-American Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. Current studies suggest that differences exist in the clinical manifestations of PD in Caucasian and non-Caucasian populations. Two horizontal sinusoidal gratings differing in spatial frequency, i.e., 1 and 4 cycles per degree (cpd), were presented in an "odd-ball" paradigm to 17 patients with PD and 17 age-matched control subjects. While the 1 cpd stimulus, is not expected to reveal retinal dopaminergic deficency, but only visuocognitive deficits, the 4cpd may give direct information of both "retinal" and "cognitive" visual deficits. We measured the latencies and amplitudes of N70, P100 and P300 components, and derived the "normalized" measures of P300-N70 latency difference (Central Processing Time-CPT70), the P300-P100 latency difference (CPT100) and the P300 amplitude responses normalized to either N70 and P100 amplitude (Amplitude Ratios AR70 and AR100). Our results do show that cognitive electrophysiological deficits in younger PD patients exist in non-Caucasians, perhaps to an even greater degree than in Caucasians, and confirm that absolute and normalized ERP amplitude and latency abnormalities are a distinguishing feature of younger PD patients from controls. In particular P300 measures are abnormal for 1 cpd pattern. A negative correlation exists between P300 amplitude and the motor score. By comparing the results for 1 and 4cpd stimuli it can be concluded that "primary" and "cognitive" visual abnormalities are independently affected in PD, implying that visuo-cognitive abnormalities are not passively determined by retinal dopaminergic deficiency.

Cognitive performance and neuropsychiatric symptoms in early, untreated Parkinson's disease

“…A clear relationship between motor subtype and NPS has not been reported previously, but our findings need to be verified through longitudinal analyses because of possible instability in motor subtyping in early PD. The association between race and NPS or cognition in PD has not been well explored, although some evidence exists that cognitive deficits and dementia are more common in nonwhite PD patients, and that nonwhites receive lower quality of depression treatment compared with whites . No difference was found between white and nonwhite PD patients for age, sex, education, MDS‐UPDRS Part III score, TD versus non‐TD subtype, or PD duration that would have helped explain the differences in NPS (data not shown).…”

Visual information processing in recently abstaining methamphetamine-dependent individuals: evoked potentials study

“…In consequence, we can suggest that the reduction of amplitudes and selective slowing of the cortical activity is the result of altered brain processing. This has also been proposed for Parkinson's disease [24]. However, we cannot reject a possible parallel impairment to the retina.…”

In Vivo Morphology of the Optic Nerve and Retina in Patients With Parkinson's Disease

“…8 Reduced amplitudes and increased latencies of visual evoked potentials have been reported in PD. [9][10][11][12] Electroretinography showed reduced a-and b-wave amplitudes indicating that retinal alterations are likely to contribute to changes in visual function. 10,13 Moreover, Ikeda et al 11 found a delay in the light peak in electrooculography reflecting reduced function of RPE.…”