title: Parkinson's disease: disturbed vestibular function and levodopa.
abstract: Evidence indicates Levodopa effects central postural control. As electrophysiological postural control biomarkers, sensory oto-acoustic features were extracted from Electrovestibulography (EVestG) data to identify 20 healthy age and gender matched individuals as Controls from 20 PD subjects before (PDlowmed) and 18 after (PDmed) morning doses of Levodopa. EVestG data was collected using a single tilt stimulus applied in the pitch plane. The extracted features were based on the measured firing pattern, interval histogram and the shape of the average field potential response. An unbiased cross validated classification accuracy of 88%, 88% and 79% was achieved using combinations of 2 features for separating PDlowmed from control, control from PD (combined PDlowmed and PDmed), and PDlowmed from PDmed groups respectively. One feature showed significant correlations (p<0.05) with the Modified Hoehn and Yahr PD staging scale. The results indicate disturbed vestibular function is observed in both the PDmed and PDlowmed conditions, and these are separable. The implication is that Levodopa may also affect peripheral as well as central postural control.
authors.affiliation: Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, Monash University Central Clinical School and the Alfred Hospital, 4th Floor, 607St Kilda Rd, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 3004; Diagnostic and Neurosignal Processing Research Laboratory, Monash University, Wellington Rd, Clayton, Victoria, Australia 3180; Diagnostic and Neurosignal Processing Research Laboratory, University of Manitoba, Riverview Health Centre, 1 Morley St, Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3L 2P4. Electronic address: Brian.Lithgow@umanitoba.ca.
authors.forename: Brian J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Lithgow
authors.affiliation: Diagnostic and Neurosignal Processing Research Laboratory, Monash University, Wellington Rd, Clayton, Victoria, Australia 3180. Electronic address: mehrnaz.shoushtarian@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mehrnaz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shoushtarian
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004568:Electrodiagnosis / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007980:Levodopa / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000187:drug effects; D014722:Vestibule, Labyrinth / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D007980:Levodopa
keywords: Biomarker; Electrovestibulography; Levodopa; Parkinson’s disease; Postural control; Symptomatology