Objective: We aimed to compare resting-state EEG oscillations between Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients during their ON and OFF Dopamine Replacement Therapy (DRT) states, heroin-dependent (HD) patients after drug injection and healthy controls.

Background: PD patients are at increased risk to develop behavioral addiction following DRT introduction. PD-related and substance addictions both rely on the dysfunction of the mesolimbic dopaminergic projection which subtends goal directed behavior and reward. Patients with HD or PD with impulse control disorders have in common the sharp increase in extracellular dopamine concentration in the nucleus accumbens. However, to date, a direct quantitative EEG comparison between PD and HD patients is missing in the literature.

Method: 12 HD patients following heroin injections, 16 PD patients presenting with motor and neuropsychiatric fluctuations assessed ON and OFF DRT and 23 age-matched healthy participants (HC) were recorded using high density EEG. After data-driven topographical clustering, power in each canonical frequency bands (δ, θ, α, lowβ, β, low γ, broadband γ) was compared between PD patients ON and OFF DOPA, HD patients and HC.

Results: We observed a frontal-parietal-temporal increase in θ band activity in HD patients and ON PD patients versus HC, and in ON PD patients versus OFF PD patients. There was a fronto-parietal increase in β band activity in HD and ON PD versus OFF PD patients, as well as between HD versus HC. The increase in θ band activity was positively correlated with disease duration. Furthermore, both θ and β powers positively correlated in both PD and HD patients with markers of impulsivity, suggesting that these frequency bands might be a common biomarker for impulsive behavior underlying addiction.

Conclusion: Altogether, these results suggest potential shared neural mechanisms for addiction in ON-DRT PD patients and heroin addiction. Our study might be a first step toward the identification of biomarkers for the limbic side effects of DRT.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/common-oscillatory-patterns-between-parkinsons-disease-and-heroin-dependent-patients-a-resting-state-eeg-study/