Neurophysiology of Atypical Parkinsonism
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24
Role of Electrophysiology in Diagnosis and Research
in Atypical Parkinsonian Disorders
Josep Valls-Solé
INTRODUCTION
Correct clinical diagnosis of patients with parkinsonism is not always possible in spite of the
continuous effort in defining diagnostic criteria (1). Parkinsonism, defined as the combination of
bradykinesia and rigidity (2), may be a predominant clinical feature of several diseases, including
idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (IPD) and several other entities commonly known as “Parkinson-plus”
syndromes or atypical parkinsonian disorders (APDs). In these entities, parkinsonism is accompanied by other clinical signs, or red flags (3), that should warn the physician of the existence of a
degenerative disorder. Even though rather specific clinical patterns have been described in patients
with APDs, such as predominantly autonomic failure, cerebellar, or pyramidal dysfunction, in multiple system atrophy (MSA), axial rigidity, ocular motility disorders, and falls early in the course of
the disease, in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), myoclonus and asymmetrical higher cortical
limb dysfunction, in corticobasal degeneration (CBD), and fluctuating cognitive deficits, visual hallucinations, and REM sleep behavior disorder, in diffuse Lewy-body disease (LBD), these signs are
not always evident or they may pass unrecognized by nonspecialized neurologists. In some conditions, such as for instance CBD, similar clinical expressions may be common to different pathologies
(4), and the same disease may encompass diverse clinical presentations (5). In others, such as MSA
with parkinsonian features (MSA-P), patients may behave like IPD until death (6), making it almost
impossible to establish a clinical separation between the two diseases. Nowadays, the definite clinical diagnosis still resides in the pathological postmortem examination (1,7,8).
When in doubt, the clinician may seek help in laboratory exams. Unfortunately, however, there are
not yet laboratory methods that can supply a diagnosis of certainty for APDs. Although single photon
emission computer tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) have shown
postsynaptic dopaminergic deficits in APDs (9), these tests are not yet capable of differentiating
between the various degenerative syndromes featuring parkinsonism. Though electrophysiological
studies do not usually provide the diagnosis, they can be of great help in the recognition of pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the presentation of some symptoms and signs. In parkinsonism,
pallidal hyperactivity might be responsible for reduced activation of thalamocortical projections, and
for an abnormal control of brainstem circuits (10–12). The situation might be slightly different in
APDs, in which the basal ganglia pathology is accompanied by neuronal loss and atrophy in many
nuclei of the brainstem and cerebellum, and dysfunctions might be present in various circuits. It is
From: Current Clinical Neurology: Atypical Parkinsonian Disorders
Edited by: I. Litvan © Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ
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therefore logical that, although some clinical neurophysiological manifestations are common to both
types of disorders, there are a few specific and distinctive features of each syndrome that may be
clinically useful.
Neurophysiological studies are suited to demonstrate, document, and quantify clinical observations. They are not expensive, and mainly noninvasive. They may occasionally bring information on
neurological functions that is not obtainable with other means. One such example is, for instance, the
measure of excitability in neuronal structures or circuits. In this chapter, we describe the neurophysiological observations made in patients with the principal disorders grouped under the term APDs,
and discuss how the results compare between different patient groups.
NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL CORRELATE OF PARKINSONISM
Patients with APDs usually present with the main clinical signs characteristic of parkinsonism,
i.e., bradykinesia and rigidity. Although clinicians identify bradykinesia and rigidity with no need for
neurophysiological recordings, these are convenient for quantitation of the dysfunction. Bradykinesia and, specially, rigidity are present with varying degree and localization in patients with parkinsonism. They may not be observed at all in patients at early stages of the cerebellar variant of multiple
system atrophy (MSA-C), though they will eventually appear during the course of the disease.
Hypokinesia and Bradykinesia
Hypokinesia and bradykinesia are abnormalities of movement, and the best way to quantify them
is with the use of reaction time task paradigms. Akinesia is defined as a delay in movement initiation,
whereas bradykinesia is defined as the slowness of movement execution (13). There are many studies
on reaction time in patients with IPD, but considerably less in APDs. Reaction time can be studied
using different methods, ranging from the execution of a task (14,15), the release of a switch or a
lever (16,17), the onset of limb displacement (18,19), or the onset of electromyogram (EMG) activity
(20,21). In paradigms of simple reaction time (SRT), the subject knows all details about the requested
motor performance before the imperative signal is delivered. In paradigms of choice reaction time
(CRT), subjects have to process some of the information contained in the imperative signal itself.
When measuring SRT as the onset of EMG activity in wrist extensors in patients with IPD, PSP, and
MSA, Valldeoriola et al. (22) found a significantly larger delay of reaction time in patients with PSP
in comparison to the other groups of patients (Fig. 1). This is in fitting with previously reported
results of an investigation of reaction time to progressively complex tasks in PSP patients (23). These
authors found an increased central processing time in patients with PSP compared with both IPD and
control subjects. PSP patients might have degraded cognition, with a delay in stimulus identification
and categorization processes (24).
The mechanisms underlying hypokinesia can be studied using EMG analysis of reaction time
tasks. Hallett and Khoshbin (10) found that IPD patients were unable to appropriately scale the size
of the first agonist burst to the requirements of a ballistic movement. They proposed that such defect
represented a physiological mechanism of bradykinesia. It is likely that the increased pallidal inhibition of thalamocortical excitatory connections accounts for such an abnormal “energization” of the
motor cortex. A proper study of the triphasic pattern in patients with APDs has not been done so far.
However, in a small group of PSP patients, Molinuevo et al. (25) observed abnormalities of the
triphasic pattern that were similar to those observed in IPD patients.
Rigidity
Rigidity in patients with parkinsonism manifests as a difficulty of complete muscle relaxation,
with often permanent tonic background EMG activity (11). Several neurophysiological tests have
been used to assess rigidity, although direct clinico-neurophysiological correlations have proven more
difficult than with bradykinesia. Rigidity has been considered to be the cause of some neurophysi-
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Fig. 1. Histograms of the mean and 1 standard deviation of simple reaction time values (expressed in ms)
for EMG activity, onset of movement and task execution in healthy volunteers, and in patients with IPD,
PSP, and MSA.
ological findings in IPD, such as an increased size of the F wave (26), increased size of long loop
reflex responses to stretch (27) or to electrical stimuli (28–30), abnormalities in the silent period
induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation (31,32), reduced reciprocal inhibition (33,34), and
reduced autogenic (Ib) inhibition of the soleus H reflex (35). However, none of those tests is specific for rigidity, which continues to be assessed by clinical evaluation of the resistance to passive
movements.
Like with bradykinesia, most tests directed to the evaluation of rigidity have been proven in
patients with IPD, and more scarcely in patients with APDs. However, it is not unreasonable to
admit that when and where rigidity is present, patients with APDs would present similar abnormalities as those described for IPD. Direct surface electrophysiological recording of a muscle in rigid
patients in resting conditions may be enough to notice that there is increased muscle activity with
respect to normal subjects. Electrophysiological evidence for that can be found when testing the
relaxation time after a sustained contraction (36). The stretch reflex, which is the most paradigmatic
electrophysiological test for limb rigidity, has not been properly tested in patients with APDs. In
these patients, rigidity often predominates in axial muscles and is very mild in limb muscles, making
it more difficult for neurophysiological evaluation. The shortening reaction (37–40) is a relatively
poorly studied long latency reflex that occurs in the muscle shortened during a passive movement. Its
frequent presence in patients with IPD could reflect the difficulties of these patients in modulating
sensory signals generated by either joint afferents (38), tendon organ afferents (39), or both. Unfortunately, however, there have not been recent studies on such an interesting phenomenon.
The pathophysiology of rigidity may be related to abnormalities in propriospinal reflexes. In their
study of IPD patients, Delwaide et al. (35) postulate that reduced autogenic inhibition mediated by Ib
interneurons would be a neurophysiological correlate of rigidity. Interestingly, however, in the sole
study published so far on spinal physiological mechanisms in APD patients, Fine et al. (41) reported
increased Ib inhibition in patients with PSP. The observation of such an opposite behavior between
IPD and PSP patients might be useful for differential diagnosis but points to the fact that neurophysi-
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ological observations might only be one manifestation of dysfunctional mechanisms. Further studies
are required to find out the mechanisms by which the Ib interneurons are modulated in a different
direction in PSP and IPD, and what is the exact role of this dysfunction in the generation of rigidity.
NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL TESTS IN THE ASSESSMENT OF ATYPICAL
PARKINSONIAN DISORDERS
Some neurophysiological features are specific or distinctive of patients with APDs. However, this
does not mean that the electrophysiological findings hold the key for the diagnosis, since sensitivity
and specificity of the tests has not been properly examined yet. The most relevant of these observations are described below, where they are grouped according to the neurophysiological method or
technique in which the observation is based.
Brainstem Reflexes
The brainstem is a crucial structure for integration of reflexes and functions related to motor control. These structures receive modulatory inputs from more rostral centers, including the basal ganglia. There are many nuclei and circuits of interest in the brainstem for neurophysiological studies.
However, it is still difficult to assign the results of some neurophysiological observations to specific
brainstem centers or circuits. Therefore, most data gathered from the study of the brainstem in patients
with APDs have the value of an empirical finding, and the exact anatomical/pathological correlation in
humans is mainly based on hypothesis and theoretical knowledge from animal experiments.
Table 1 summarizes the observations made in patients with parkinsonism regarding facial movements and brainstem reflexes. Although many brainstem circuits are dysfunctional in patients with
APDs, the examination of brainstem reflexes and functions yields more interesting results in patients
with PSP than in any other form of parkinsonism.
Eye and Eyelid Movements
Some of the most striking features differentiating PSP from other disorders presenting with parkinsonism regard facial expression and gaze disturbances (42). A list of abnormalities reported so far
regarding eye or eyelid movements in these patients is shown in Table 2. The resting blink rate, of 24
per minute in normal controls, was found to be reduced in most patients with parkinsonism (43), but
significantly more so in patients with PSP, whose mean blinking frequency can be reduced to as little
as 4 blinks per minute. Blinking rate may be an expression of the level of dopamine activity.
Clinical evidence of eye movement abnormalities is not always present in the initial phases of the
disease (42). If the possibility of PSP is suspected on the basis of some other clinical features, recording of eye movements by electro-oculography might be of some help. Surface electrodes are placed
in the upper, lower, nasal, and temporal edges of the orbit and the subject is requested to make
horizontal and vertical eye movements (44). Electro-oculogram recordings may show characteristic
abnormalities in patients with PSP (45), including slowness of vertical eye movements, absent Bell’s
phenomenon, and square wave jerks (Fig. 2). In the study reported by Vidailhet and coworkers, 9 out
of 10 patients with PSP had vertical-gaze paralysis with preserved reflex eye movements. Vidailhet
et al. (46) also showed slowness of horizontal eye movement and microsaccades that would help in
distinguishing patients with PSP from those with other parkinsonisms. Some eye movement abnormalities are already apparent at simple inspection. A PSP patient exhibiting slowness of saccades and
limitation of vertical eye movement with preserved oculo-cephalic reflexes is shown in video segment 1.
Reflex Responses of the Orbicularis Oculi
In contrast to the reduced frequency of spontaneous blinking, reflex responses of the orbicularis
oculi to trigeminal nerve inputs are of normal latency (47). The normality of reflex responses to
trigeminal nerve stimuli is in contrast to the absence or significant reduction of the responses to
auditory inputs (48). Whether the response of the orbicularis oculi to loud auditory stimulus is part of
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Table 1
Characteristics of Some Brainstem Reflexes and Functions in Patients With Parkinsonism
Test
IPD
PSP
MSA
CBD
Spontaneous
blinking frequency
Reduced
Extremely Reduced
Enhanced
Normal Reduced
Normal
Excitability recovery
curve (paired pulses)
Enhanced
Enhanced
Enhanced
Normal
Blinking to loud auditory
stimuli
Normal
Reduced
Normal or Increased
Normal
Blinking to median nerve
stimuli
Normal
Reduced or Absent
Normal
Normal
Auditory prepulse
inhibition
Reduced
Reduced
?
?
Somatosensory prepulse
inhibition
Normal
Reduced
?
?
IPD, idiopathic Parkinson’s disease; PSP, progressive supranuclear palsy; MSA, multiple system atrophy
(strionigral degeneration); CBD, corticobasal degeneration; ?, data unknown.
Table 2
Eye and Eyelid Movement Abnormalities Observed in Patients With PSP
Reduced spontaneous blinking (43)
Blepharospasm (42)
Supranuclear palsy of eyelid opening (45)
Supranuclear palsy of eyelid closing (42)
Reduced voluntary suppression of vestibular ocular reflex (VOR) (42)
Eyelid retraction (Cowper’s sign) (42)
Square-wave jerks (46)
Absent eyelid responses to acoustic stimuli (48)
Absent eyelid responses to median nerve stimuli (47)
the generalized startle reaction or is an auditory blink reflex with separate physiological characteristics is still a matter of debate (49,50). In any case, the reduction of orbicularis oculi responses to
auditory stimuli is indeed an important observation of some clinical utility in the differential diagnosis of APDs.
The palmomental reflex is usually elicited by scratching the volar aspect of the thenar eminence or
the thumb. This leads to a reflex movement of the chin that is considered abnormal when it shows
reduced habituation (51). Electromyographic recording of facial muscle responses during elicitation
of the palmomental reflex permits the quantitation of the responses (52). The facial reflex response is
not limited to the mentalis muscle but is usually accompanied by an ipsilateral eyelid movement that
can be apparent with simple inspection and readily demonstrated with surface electromyographic
recording (Fig. 3A). Interestingly, in patients with PSP, contraction of eyelid muscles is not present
even when the mentalis response is evident (see the second part of video segment 1 on accompanying
DVD). In a protocolized study of facial reflexes in patients with parkinsonism, Valls-Solé et al. (47)
analyzed the responses elicited simultaneously in the mentalis and orbicularis oculi muscles by
median nerve electrical stimulation. The study included patients with IPD, PSP, MSA, CBD, and
healthy volunteers. Responses in the mentalis muscle were found in most patients and in 2 out of 10
normal subjects. In all of them, whenever there were responses in the mentalis muscle, there were
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Fig. 2. Electro-oculogram in a healthy subject (A) and in a patient with PSP (B) during fixation to an object
(upper traces) and voluntary saccades (lower traces). Note the presence of small eye movements during fixation, and of a slow and staircase eyeball displacement during the saccadic movement.
Fig. 3. Facial reflex responses to median nerve stimulation in a patient with IPD (A), and in a patient with
PSP (B). Note the absence of orbicularis oculi response in the patient with PSP even though the mentalis muscle
response (lower traces) is similar in both patients.
also responses in the orbicularis oculi muscle. The exception were the patients with PSP, who had no
orbicularis oculi responses even if the responses of the mentalis muscle were not different from those
observed in the other groups of patients (Fig. 3B). This abnormality probably reflects the activation
of two different circuits by the median nerve afferent volley. The mentalis response could be conveyed through the cortico-nuclear tract, since this tract innervates predominantly lower facial motoneurons (53), and a transcortical loop has been suggested because of the contiguity between thumb
and chin areas in the brain sensorimotor region (52,54). The selective damage of the pontine reticular
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415
formation in patients with PSP would be responsible for the absence of the orbicularis oculi response.
Enhancement of mentalis response may occur because of disinhibition of thalamo-cortical connections from their striatal control (54).
One of the earliest contributions of electromyography to the assessment of central nervous system
(CNS) abnormalities in patients with parkinsonism was made by Kimura in 1973 (55). Kimura demonstrated in these patients the existence of an abnormal decrease of habituation of the blink reflex to
paired supraorbital nerve electrical stimuli. The fact that the abnormalities occurred in the R2 but not
in the R1 component of the blink reflex suggested that the disturbance lies in the interneurons rather
than in the motoneurons. Since then, many authors have studied the blink reflex excitability recovery
curve to paired stimuli, by dividing the size of the response to the test stimulus by that of the response
to the conditioning stimulus. This sign has been reported not only in parkinsonism, but in many other
disorders as well (56,57). It is therefore of little use for differential diagnosis between degenerative
disorders. In clinical practice, the assessment of enhanced trigemino-facial reflex excitability may be
of interest for documenting the existence of an abnormal function of brainstem interneurons in patients
in whom clinical assessment is dubious or at early stages of their disease. We found similar interneuronal brainstem excitability enhancement in IPD, PSP, and MSA patients (47). Figure 4 shows the
proposed circuit of basal ganglia control of trigemino-facial reflex excitability, according to Basso
and Evinger (58) and Basso et al. (59), and the dysfunction likely occurring in parkinsonism.
Other Facial Reflexes
Neurophysiological abnormalities have been reported in other brainstem reflexes in parkinsonism,
although they have not been investigated specifically in APDs (60–62). It has been shown that the
second inhibitory period of the masseteric exteroceptive inhibitory reflex has an enhanced excitability recovery cycle, similar to that of the blink reflex in patients with IPD. The same excitability
recovery abnormalities have been reported in parkinsonism and dystonia (60).
The Startle Reaction and the Startle-Induced Modulation of Reaction Time
The startle reaction in experimentation animals is known to be generated in the nucleus reticularis
pontis caudalis (nRPC), which activates the reticulospinal tract inducing muscle responses in facial
and spinal motoneurons (63). In humans, the startle reaction is also thought to originate in corresponding nuclei of the brainstem, and spread caudally and rostrally to limb and facial muscles.
Abnormalities in the startle reaction can be related to enhancement or reduction of the response
size. One example of abnormal startle response enhancement is hyperkeplexia (64), whereas an
abnormal startle response reduction takes place in patients with PSP (48). The decrease of the
startle reaction in PSP patients should not be surprising, since neuronal loss in these patients involves
specifically the cholinergic neurons of the lower pontine reticular formation, where the startle reaction is generated. Neuronal loss has been reported in the pedunculo-pontine tegmental nucleus and
the nucleus reticularis pontis caudalis (65–67). In the study carried out by Vidailhet et al. (48), the
response was absent in three out of eight patients, and it was small and delayed in the other five
patients. The same finding was later replicated by Valldeoriola et al. (22), who carried out a comparative study of PSP and other APDs.
Whereas response enhancement is easy to identify because of reactions of larger size and decreased
habituation, assessment of an abnormal reduction of the response may be more difficult because of the
fact that the response habituates easily in healthy subjects (49). For this reason, the observations
made in experiments in which the startling stimulus was applied together with the imperative signal
in the context of a reaction time task paradigm should be helpful for clinical purposes. Using such
methods, Valls-Solé and coworkers (68–70) made a few interesting observations in healthy subjects:
1. The startling stimulus applied together with the imperative signal of a reaction time task induces a significant acceleration in the execution of the intended movement. The ballistic movement is executed without
any distortion but at a significantly faster speed (70).
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Fig. 4. Basal ganglia control of trigemino-facial reflex excitability. The basal ganglia modulate the excitability of the blink reflex through the output signals arising from the globus pallidus pars interna (GPi) and the
substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr). According to Basso et al. (58) and Basso and Evinger (59), the GPi/SNr
complex sends inhibitory inputs to the superior colliculus (SC), which is excitatory for the nucleus raphe magnus
(nRM). This, in turn, inhibits the trigeminal neurons of the spinal nucleus. In PD, there is increased GPi/SNr
inhibition of the SC which, as a consequence, reduces its excitatory inputs to the nRM. The less active nRM
induces less inhibition of the spinal trigeminal nucleus, which becomes dis-inhibited (hyperexcitable). As with
bradykinesia, it is difficult to know whether the same mechanisms apply to APDs. I, inhibitory; E, excitatory of
stimulus.
2. The response to the startling stimulus is enhanced. The same startling stimulus that would give rise to a
relatively small and inconsistent response when given alone induce a significantly larger response when is
applied during motor preparation (68).
3. Habituation of the response to the startling stimulus is significantly reduced. In a study in which auditory
stimuli were applied at the same rate in different experimental conditions, Valls-Solé et al. (69) found that
habituation of the response to the startling stimulus was reduced in facial and cervical muscles when
subjects were engaged in preparation for a ballistic reaction.
Clinical application of the collision between a startle reaction and the voluntary activity in a reaction time task paradigm (the StartReact effect) was reported by Valldeoriola et al. (22). These authors
found that patients with PSP not only had absent startle reaction but they were also not able to accelerate their voluntary reaction when the startling stimulus was applied together with the imperative
signal.
In contrast to patients with PSP, patients with MSA have normal auditory startle reaction in facial
and cervical muscles (71). Furthermore, when the responses of cranial and limb muscles are analyzed
together, MSA patients had enhanced probability of a response, shortened onset latency, and enlarged
response magnitude compared to normal controls (72,73). In the only analysis of the startle response in
patients with LBD, Kofler et al. (73) reported fewer and abnormally delayed ASR of low amplitude and
short duration in extremity muscles in comparison to healthy controls. Two more details of the studies
of Kofler and coworkers (72,73) are relevant for the discussion of the contribution of the startle
reaction to the differential diagnosis of APD patients. One is the fact that three patients with MSA
had no response to the startle reaction, indicating that absence of the startle reaction is not a feature
exclusive to PSP patients (48). A particularly high density of oligodendroglial cytoplasmatic inclu-
Neurophysiology of Atypical Parkinsonism
417
sions in the brainstem area responsible for the generation of the reticulospinal tract was assumed to
be the cause of absent startle response in those MSA patients. Another observation made by Kofler
et al. (72) was the existence of subtle differences in the characteristics of the response between
MSA-P and MSA-C patients. Whereas MSA-P patients had a higher startle probability and a larger
area and shorter latency of the motor response, patients with MSA-C had less habituation. Differences between the two groups in the inhibitory effect of the cerebellum over the motor cortex may be
responsible for such neurophysiological observation (72).
Prepulse Inhibition
A weak stimulus preceding by about 100 ms the startling stimulus has an effect of inhibition upon
the startle reaction (prepulse inhibition). The prepulse stimulus may be of the same or a different
sensory modality as the stimulus inducing the startle (50). In the blink reflex, an auditory prepulse
causes enhancement of the R1 and depression of the R2 to electrical supraorbital nerve stimuli (74).
In a study of prepulse inhibition in patients with IPD, Nakashima et al. (75) found that auditory
prepulse stimuli induced an abnormally reduced inhibition of the R2 response of the blink reflex, and
Lozza et al. (76) reported an abnormally reduced blink reflex inhibition after index finger stimulation. However, some patients with IPD have an abnormal auditory prepulse inhibition and a normal
somatosensory prepulse inhibition (77). The different behavior of auditory and somatosensory
prepulse stimuli in IPD patients could be owing to differences in the prepulse effectiveness of the
same vs different sensory modality, differences in the arrival time of prepulse inputs to the brainstem
centers, or to selective impairment of reticular formation neurons activated by auditory inputs. Patients
with PSP have also absent or significantly reduced prepulse inhibition to both auditory and somatosensory prepulses (Fig. 5), revealing an even more striking dysfunction of the prepulse circuit in PSP
compared to IPD. No data are available so far regarding prepulse inhibition in MSA patients.
Spinal Reflexes
A variety of tests determining the excitability of propriospinal interneurons (78,79) have been
applied to patients with IPD, demonstrating reduced reciprocal (33,34) and autogenetic (Ib) inhibition (35), possibly related to the clinical expression of rigidity. These exams have not been done in
patients with APDs, except for a single study of autogenetic inhibition (Ib inhibition) in patients with
PSP (41). In such a study, the authors showed enhancement of the inhibition, the exact opposite of
what was reported in patients with IPD. The explanation why opposite results have been found in
these two groups of patients is, up to now, not clear.
Audiospinal facilitation is known as the effect of an auditory stimulus on spinal reflexes, specifically the soleus H reflex. The methods for audiospinal facilitation were developed by Rossignol and
Jones (80) and Delwaide et al. (81). The stimulus to the posterior tibial nerve to induce the H reflex is
applied between 0 and 110 ms after a loud acoustic stimulus. Healthy subjects have H reflex facilitation beginning at intervals between 60 and 80 ms, and lasting until the intervals of 100 or 110 ms.
However, audiospinal facilitation is abnormally reduced in patients with IPD (12,81). Our own preliminary observations in patients with the clinical diagnosis of probable PSP is that they exhibit the
same abnormality (82).
Surface EMG Recording of Abnormal Movements
The recording of abnormal movements by means of surface EMG recording yields interesting
information for the analysis of tremor, such as in patients with IPD (82). Tremor has also been reported
in up to 74% of MSA patients (83). However, this figure included several types of tremor, with only a
few patients exhibiting the resting tremor typical of IPD, and a large proportion of unclassifiable
hands and finger “jerky” tremors, such as those shown in video segment 2. Electrophysiological
studies of these latter movements have shown that their characteristics are closer to myoclonus than
to tremor (84). A piezoelectric accelerometer was used to record finger movements and analyze the
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Fig. 5. Prepulse inhibition of the blink reflex in a healthy volunteer and in a patient with PSP. The traces of
the upper row show the responses to a stimulus to the supraorbital nerve applied at the vertical line. Ipsilateral
recordings (ipsi) show R1 and R2 responses whereas contralateral recordings show only the R2. The traces of
the lower row show the responses to the same stimulus when a prepulse is applied 100 ms before (arrows).
(A) Normal auditory prepulse inhibition in a healthy volunteer; (B) Absent auditory prepulse inhibition in a
patient with PSP. (C) Absent somatosensory prepulse inhibition in the same patient.
frequency spectrum of the signal through fast Fourier transformation. This procedure showed that
movements of MSA patients were rather non-rhythmic in comparison to those of patients with other
forms of tremor (Fig. 6). Salazar et al. (84) suggested the term minipolymyoclonus to be used to
describe these small amplitude, irregular, jerklike abnormal movements. Other forms of myoclonus
have been also reported in a few MSA patients (30,85), which might have their origin in a reduced
inhibition of the strio-palido-thalamo-cortical circuit (86). Table 3 shows a list of disorders in which
activity defined as minipolymyoclonus has been encountered, together with some of the most relevant neurophysiological findings.
Myoclonus is also an apparent feature in patients with CBD (87), in whom they are thought to be
of cortical origin in spite of lacking neurophysiological evidence. The expected findings of cortical
myoclonus, such as giant somatosensory evoked potentials and jerk-locked EEG potentials, are inconsistent in CBD. The cortical response is occasionally absent, which is attributed to the marked frontoparietal cortical atrophy and neuronal degeneration characteristic of these patients (88,89). Cortical
atrophy of inhibitory neurons could lead to the enhanced (disinhibited) motor cortex excitability.
The “C” wave, or focal reflex myoclonus (90), is a response seen in forearm muscles after electrical stimulation of ipsilateral cutaneous nerves of the hand. This response is thought to be mediated by
fast-conducting afferent and efferent pathways and might have a latency as short as 43.1+/–3.2 ms
(87). In some patients, focal reflex myoclonus might be elicited by stimuli of an intensity below
perception threshold, which suggests a direct connection from the thalamic nuclei to the motor cortex
(91). The “C” response should not be mistaken for the long latency excitatory response of the cutaneomuscular reflexes (92,93). The cutaneo-muscular reflex can be elicited during a sustained tonic voluntary contraction of the forearm muscles. The long latency excitatory component of the
cutaneo-muscular reflex is abnormally enhanced in patients with IPD or MSA (30). However, the
latency of such a response is longer than that of the “C” reflex.
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419
Fig. 6. Surface EMG recording from wrist extensors (A), accelerometric recording of finger movements
(B), and FastFourier analysis of the movement recording (C) in a patient with MSA and minipolymyoclonus.
See the absence of a dominant frequency peak.
Table 3
Disorders Featuring Minipolymyoclonus
Disorder
Dominant Clinical Sign
EMG Bursts
EEG
“C” wave
Motoneuron disease
Fasciculation atrophy
Asynchronous (1–20 Hz)
Not described
Not described
Polyneuropathy
Absent tendon jerks
Severe sensory deficit
Slow and asynchronous
Not described
Not described
Alzheimer’s disease
Dementia
Multifocal
Slow waves
Epileptiform
activity
Negative
frontal wave
Present
Myoclonic epilepsy
Seizures
Synchronized or irregular
Slow negative
frontal wave
Present
Syringomyelia
Weakness. Spasticity
Sensory deficit
Asynchronous and
irregular
Not described
Not described
MSA-P
Rigid-akinetic syndrome
Synchronous (1–12 Hz)
Normal
Present
Autonomic Reflexes and Functions
Autonomic nervous system dysfunction is the key to the diagnosis in patients with MSA who
present with parkinsonism or cerebellar syndromes (3), and is presently a required criterion for the
diagnosis of probable MSA (94). Clinically relevant autonomic dysfunctions in these patients are
orthostatic hypotension, urinary and fecal incontinence, erectile dysfunction in males, sudomotor
disregulation, and abnormalities in respiratory control during sleep. Autonomic dysfunction, i.e.,
urinary incontinence (97%) and constipation (83%), has also been reported in patients with LBD (95).
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Valls-Solé
Orthostatic hypotension may result from the inability to increase sympathetic activity when standing. This can be shown as an abnormal regulation of baroreflex responses to different stimuli (96).
Using readily available electrophysiological equipment, it is also possible to monitor heartbeat frequency. Recording the R-R interval variation by means of the signal trigger and the delay line unit of
an electromyograph shows graphically the reduced adaptation of the heart beat rate to a postural
change or to the Valsalva maneuver (77). The main drawback of this test is that patients with severe
bradykinesia might be unable to perform adequately the maneuvers, and reduced R-R interval variation could actually be owing to insufficient stimulation. One of the possibilities to test R-R interval
variation using methods that do not require the patient’s cooperation is based on the fact that the
startle response is normal in MSA patients (71,72), and on the observation that a startle accelerates
heartbeat frequency in normal subjects (97). In a group of six MSA patients, a startling acoustic
stimulus induced the normal motor component of the startle reaction but a significantly smaller change
of the R-R interval in comparison to healthy volunteeers (98).
The sympathetic sudomotor skin response, or SSR (99), may reveal dysfunctions in the autonomic
control of sudomotor reflexes. Loss of sympathetic neurons of the intermediolateral column might
explain the finding of frequently abnormal SSRs in patients with MSA (100). Other tests of sudomotor function, such as the evaluation of the amount of sweat production to direct gland stimulation
with intradermal methacholine, have also demonstrated a decreased sweat response in patients with
MSA (101).
Sleep disorders are frequent in patients with MSA and in those with LBD. Some of these disorders
might be related to autonomic dysfunction. In the study of Plazzi et al. (102), 35 out of 39 patients
with MSA had REM sleep behavior disorders. These preceded the diagnosis in 44% of the cases.
Polysomnographic studies revealed subclinical obstructive sleep apnea in 6 patients, laryngeal stridor in 8 patients, and periodic leg movements during sleep in 10 patients. Laryngeal stridor, owing to
vocal cord abductor paralysis during sleep, is probably caused by selective denervation atrophy of
the cricoarytenoid muscle resulting from selective loss of neurons in the nucleus ambiguous (103),
and may lead to chocking and death in advanced stages of MSA. This can be prevented with tracheostomy (104) or with continuous positive air pressure (105). REM sleep behavior disorder has also
been considered a sign heralding LBD (106) and, in a more recent study, it is considered as a possible
hallmark of a synucleinopathy in the setting of a cognitive dementia or parkinsonism (107).
Needle EMG Recording of the Sphincter Muscles
In MSA patients, manifestations of autonomic dysfunctions such as erectile impotence are usually
accompanied by increased urinary frequency and urgency, leading soon to incontinence, associated
with large residual urine volumes (108). The severity of urinary symptoms is one main red flag that
should warn the neurologist of the possibility that the parkinsonian patient thought to have IPD is
actually facing the diagnosis of probable MSA (3). Urinary incontinence in MSA patients might be
because of autonomic dysfunction, loss of pontine control of micturition, striatal sphincter denervation, or a combination of them all. Striatal sphincter denervation is attributed to the selective loss of
motoneurons in the nucleus of Onuff at the S2-S3 medullary segments. Needle electromyography
of the external anal sphincter, therefore, is considered an important neurophysiological test in the
assessment of patients with parkinsonism, as most patients with MSA show denervation-reinnervation signs (109,110). We and others have confirmed that anal sphincter denervation is prominent in
patients with MSA, although similar types of abnormalities have been found in a large proportion of
patients with PSP as well as in some patients with IPD (111,112). Therefore, the utility of anal or
vesical sphincter needle EMG in the diagnosis of MSA is still under debate (113,114). Chronic constipation, local trauma related to delivery, and other pudendal nerve long-standing lesions may give
rise also to sphincter denervation (115,116), which may diminish the validity of the sign as a true
marker of motoneuronal loss. In the consensus statement for the diagnosis of MSA (94), sphincter
EMG abnormalities are considered as a supportive laboratory finding.
Neurophysiology of Atypical Parkinsonism
421
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
There are not many studies published on the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in
patients with APDs in comparison to the large body of literature published in patients with IPD.
However, finding an abnormality in central conduction time in a patient with parkinsonism should be
considered as a red flag to warn of the likely existence of a degenerative disorder different from IPD.
Central motor conduction time has been found slightly delayed in a number of patients with MSA, in
both the parkinsonian (117) and cerebellar variants (118).
Many other cortical and subcortical functional measures can be determined with single-pulse TMS,
including resting and active threshold, stimulus-response curves, silent period duration, or cortical
maps, but only a few studies of this kind have been carried out in patients with APDs. Most of them
have been performed in patients with CBD, a disorder featuring clinical signs of asymmetrical sensorimotor cortex involvement. Recording from muscles of the more affected side, Lu et al. (119)
reported shortened TMS-induced silent period, and Strafella et al. (120) reported enhanced facilitation and reduced inhibition of MEPs modulated by digital nerve stimulation. These findings are likely
reflecting motor cortical excitability enhancement.
Patients with CBD exhibit lack of voluntary control of limb movements (video segment 3), or
“alien-hand” syndrome, which suggests a cortical dysfunction (121,122). In normal subjects, unilateral TMS, applied with the figure of “8” coil, induces hand muscle responses restricted to the contralateral side. However, in 6 out of 10 patients with CBD, Valls-Solé et al. (123) found bilateral
responses to focal, unilateral, TMS applied to the side contralateral to the alien hand (Fig. 7). Ipsilateral responses were delayed with respect to the contralateral ones by a mean of 7.7 ± 2.2 ms, a time
allowing for conduction through the corpus callosum. Such abnormality was not found in any of 10
normal subjects, 8 patients with Alzheimer’s disease, or 6 patients with IPD presenting with predominantly unilateral rigidity. This finding points again to an enhanced motor cortex excitability in
the hemisphere contralateral to the alien hand, which may be unable to inhibit transcallosal excitatory
inputs from the other hemisphere.
Paired-pulse TMS has been also used in the study of corticospinal tract functions in patients with
APD. Intrahemispheric cortico-cortical inhibition was found abnormally reduced in patients with MSAP, but not in patients with MSA-C (124). It has also been abnormal in the study of patients with CBD
(125,126), suggesting the possibility of its clinical utility in the early phases of the disease (126).
TMS is an important tool not only for the assessment of cortical motor function but also for the
analysis of the modulatory effects that descending pathways might have on segmental reflexes.
Using methods similar to those proposed by Delwaide and collaborators with auditory stimuli (81),
we examined the effects of TMS on the soleus H reflex in normal subjects and in patients with
parkinsonism. In healthy volunteers, TMS induced early (5–30 ms) and late (60–100 ms) phases of
significant facilitation of the soleus H reflex (127). The second phase is absent or significantly
reduced in about 50% of patients with IPD (82), and in all eight patients with PSP examined so far
(unpublished results).
Evoked Potentials
The early components of the somatosensory evoked potentials in patients with IPD are normal,
except for the N30 recorded at the frontal lobe, which shows reduced amplitude (128). According to
Rossini and collaborators, the reduced amplitude of the N30 might be owing to an abnormal sensorimotor integration (129). A different kind of abnormality has been reported in patients with PSP.
In these patients, Kofler and collaborators (130) reported an enhancement of the amplitude of the
early components of the somatosensory evoked potentials, which was considered to be the consequence of cortical disinhibition. More recently, Miwa and Mizuno (131) confirmed the finding and
proposed that the observation of enlarged somatosensory evoked potentials can be useful in the differentiation of PSP patients from other patients with movement disorders.
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Valls-Solé
Fig. 7. Recordings from bilateral thenar muscles to focal, unilateral, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
in a healthy control subject (A), and in a patient with CBD (B). Upper traces result from left-hemisphere TMS,
and lower traces from right-hemisphere TMS. Note the presence of a delayed ipsilateral MEP in the patient.
The premotor evoked potentials are abnormal in patients with IPD, likely reflecting a disturbance
in preparation of the motor act. Deecke et al. (132) showed that there was a delay and reduction of the
bereitschaftpotential, and abnormalities in event-related potentials have been also published. However, there are no studies of the premotor potentials in patients with APDs.
NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL TESTS MOST USEFUL
FOR DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS IN PATIENTS WITH APD
There is no single clinical neurophysiology test that can be used to distinguish with certitude
between patients with APD at an individual level. This situation of clinical neurophysiology is common to many other conditions. In practicing clinical neurophysiology, the examiner is constantly
looking for data that can bring more cues to confirm or refute an hypothesis made on the basis of
clinical exam. The selection of tests useful for differential diagnosis in patients with APD can only be
orientative or suggestive, but conclusive. One of the roles of those whose work is devoted to clinical
neurophysiology should be to search for new methods and technical improvements to bring further
understanding on pathophysiological mechanisms of the disease process.
From the author’s point of view, the neurophysiological tests that better characterize parkinsonism
and, specifically, the APDs, are listed in Table 4. Performance of ballistic movements within a reaction time task paradigm is useful to test the mechanisms of motor preparation and execution, even
though very much should still be learned on the physiology of motor preparation for the test to provide its full potential of information. Brainstem and spinal reflexes have to be conveniently modulated by the descending motor commands for them to be integrated in the subject’s normal motor
behavior. Although many tests have given interesting information on the abnormal brainstem and
spinal reflex modulation in patients with parkinsonism, a good clinical correlate of these abnormalities is still pending. The evaluation of autonomic reflexes and the sphincter EMG provides information on specific abnormalities that can be predominant in certain groups of patients. They reflect the
involvement of specific groups of neurons, well correlated with pathologic findings. However, they
are not useful for the diagnosis on an individual patient basis since similar abnormalities can be
Neurophysiology of Atypical Parkinsonism
423
Table 4
Selection of Neurophysiological Findings Allowing for Characterization of Specific Disorders
Presenting With Parkinsonism
Disorder
IPD
PSP
MSA
CBD
LBD
Results of Neurophysiological Tests
Mild delay of reaction time in performance of ballistic movements
Reduced prepulse inhibition of the blink reflex to auditory stimuli, with normal prepulse
inhibition to somatosensory stimuli
Regular alternating tremor at rest
Absent startle reaction to auditory stimuli
Absent orbicularis oculi response to a median nerve electrical stimulus eliciting a response
in the mentalis muscle
Reduced prepulse inhibition of the blink reflex to both auditory and somatosensory stimuli
Signs of denervation-reinnervation in sphincter muscles
Signs of autonomic dysfunction
Minipolymyoclonus
Spontaneous and reflex myoclonus
Asymmetry in cortical maps of representation of hand muscles
REM sleep behavior disorder
present in other groups of patients. TMS, short latency evoked potentials, and event-related potentials, are all offering many possibilities for the study of motor and sensory pathways as well as brain
sensorimotor integration and high level processing of information. Although many studies have been
carried out in patients with parkinsonism, very few reports on APDs have been published so far. A
large amount of research is under way regarding the physiological mechanisms of TMS and eventrelated potentials. Many of them are already available for clinical application and more will be in the
near future, allowing for better characterization of the abnormalities involving sensory and motor
functions of patients with APDs.
FURTHER RESEARCH IN NEUROPHYSIOLOGY OF APD
There is a large amount of possibilities for research in neurophysiology of parkinsonism and of
movement disorders in general. Neurophysiology offers the advantage of a good temporal resolution
of events and should bring further understanding of what is wrong in the CNS that leads to motor
dsyfunction. The research in clinical neurophysiology will probably continue until the pathophysiological mechanisms of the diseases are well understood. However, meaningful information can only
be obtained if a careful neurological examination is followed by an imaginative albeit meticulous
neurophysiological study. Undoubtedly, the most rewarding situation would be the one in which
neurologists and clinical neurophysiologists join their efforts. Relevant and interesting information
derived from neurophysiological studies should stir up the interest of clinicians, whereas challenging
questions arising from clinical exams should stimulate the imagination of the clinical neurophysiologist in devising new techniques for more careful documentation of the signs.
Although the cooperation between clinical and neurophysiological experts is the first condition
for the development of future lines of research, the second one is the development of better methods
for clinical diagnosis of the diseases. Neurophysiology would be able to provide accurate information on the pathophysiology of movement disorders only if the diagnostic uncertainty is reduced to
negligible levels. A thorough neurophysiological characterization of patients with APDs, appropriately classifed into well-differentiated groups, would certainly bring information that may be useful
in the future to improve the diagnostic accuracy but, most of all, the pathophysiology of the diseases.
Suggestions for future research lines are listed in Table 5. Some of them are based on clinical
features that should be the focuss of neurophysiological studies. However, some techniques may be
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Valls-Solé
Table 5
Lines of Future Research in Neurophysiology of APD
Clinical Feature
Motor systems
Sensory systems
Spinal cord reflexes
Brainstem physiology
Cortical stimulation
Research Lines
Documentation of bradykinesia when performing natural tasks
Methods for enhancing energization of the motor tract
Readiness and premotor potentials
Relationship between mental processes and motor actions
Role of external cues and rhythms on movement performance
Dysfunction of subcortical motor pathways
Source of rest and action tremor oscillations
Multilevel sensorimotor integration
Long latency and event-related evoked potentials
Intersensory facilitation vs collision between sensory stimuli
Alpha motoneuronal excitability
The role of propriospinal inhibitory circuits in rigidity
Relationship between basal ganglia and brainstem nuclei
Recording pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus functions
Physiology of automatic movements
Spontaneous and reflex blinks
Modulation of cortical responses with sensory inputs
Ipsilateral effects of TMS
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation
able to demonstrate features of the disease that point to the dysfunction of certain nervous system
centers or structures. Among those techniques, TMS and event-related potentials are probably the
most promising ones. Since their implantation, TMS and especially repetitive TMS (rTMS) have
opened a large avenue of research in parkinsonism and other movement disorders. They will certainly bring more possibilities for neurophysiological interventions in the near future, including therapeutic actions. It has been demonstrated that the introduction of a variable amount of electrical current
in brain tissues by applying rTMS of different intensities and frequencies induces excitability changes
that can in turn be measured by conventional TMS or other methods (133). Since 1994 (134), rTMS
has been used as a therapy in patients with IPD. Although there has been contradictory observations
up to the most recently published papers (135,136), researchers will certainly keep trying until the
technique finds its position among the armamentarium of neurophysiological interventions in patients
with APDs. Recording event-related brain potentials should provide information on structures that may
be dysfunctional in parkinsonism. Cognitive negative variation has been reported to be improved
after subthalamic nucleus stimulation (137), indicating the sensitivity of the test to basal ganglia–
cortical loop function. A variety of other neurophysiological techniques could be in the list of suggestions for future studies. The reader may find helpful information regarding many of those
procedures in the specialized literature. However, apart from knowing technical details, the researcher
interested in neurophysiology of parkinsonism should exercise imagination to find new ways to demonstrate specific features of the disease.
LEGENDS FOR THE VIDEO SEGMENTS
Video segment 1. Two patients with PSP featuring slow and limited voluntary eye movements.
The second patient shows responses of the lower facial muscles, but not of the periocular muscles, to
a scratch stimulus to the thenar eminence.
Video segment 2. Two patients with MSA-P showing minipolymyoclonus. Note the irregular
movements, sometimes limited to one finger
Neurophysiology of Atypical Parkinsonism
425
Video segment 3. Two patients with corticobasal degeneration. The first patient shows some features of alien limb. The second patient had asymmetrical upper limb appraxia.
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