Topological disruption of freezing of gait in multiple system atrophy

Motivation: Functional brain network studies of freezing of gait have been extensive in PD in recent years, but are still lacking in MSA, where the disease deteriorate more rapidly. Goal(s): Investigate the disrupted topology of functional interactions in MSA-FOG. Extend our knowledge of the neurobiological basis of FOG in MSA. Approach: We constructed and analysed functional network at global, node and modular levels when compared among MSA patients with and without freezing of gait and matched healthy controls. Results: The aberrations of visual network, DAN and coupling changes between visual network and cerebellum were found in MSA-FOG compared to MSA-nFOG and HC. Impact: Different from focusing on pairwise brain regions, our study proved MSA-FOG FC alterations in the visual network and the dorsal attention network as well as coupling pattern changes between visual network the other networks at the large-scale network level.