Neuroimaging of Non-Motor Deficits in Movement Disorders

While by definition the primary pathological signatures of movement disorders are their effects on the motor system, non-motor symptoms are becoming a research topic of increasing interest in patients with Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy, Tourette’s syndrome, and many others. These symptoms often entail a major source of patient and caregiver burder, and represent a limiting factor in current standards of patient care. In particular, non-invasive neuroimaging studies of the cognitive, psychiatric, and emotional sequelae of movement disorders have begun to shed light on the neural underpinnings of these non-motor symptoms, with hopes for the eventual development of targets for therapeutic intervention. Additionally, many of the neural systems implicated in these non-motor symptoms are known to interact dynamically with sensorimotor function, providing new insight into the disease process. Though these research lines are becoming more popular, they are traditionally understudied, leaving major gaps in the literature.

The goal of this Research Topic is to aggregate new and exciting research that leverages non-invasive imaging techniques to elucidate the neural bases of non-motor symptoms in movement disorders. In this instance, the term “movement disorder” indicates any neurological disease state that has traditionally been understood as primarily affecting the motor system, and “non-motor” is meant to be interpreted as inclusively as possible (e.g., cognitive, psychiatric, emotional, and primary sensory symptoms). Non-motor symptomatology resulting from common therapeutic treatments for movement disorders are also of interest. Review articles synthesizing recent literature in this field are also highly desirable, and particularly if they focus on the holistic non-motor pathology of a single traditionally-defined movement disorder, or a series of closely-related such disorders.

We are interested in original research articles, meta-analyses, and systematic reviews in any of these areas:

• Movement disorders, including but not limited to: stroke, Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy, Tourette’s syndrome, progressive supranuclear palsy, Huntington’s disease, essential tremor, restless leg syndrome, and others

• Non-motor effects of common or emerging treatments for movement disorders (e.g., levodopa)

• Functional neuroimaging (e.g., fMRI, EEG, MEG, fNIRS)

• Structural neuroimaging (e.g., sMRI, CT, DTI)

• Molecular neuroimaging (e.g., PET)