Application as a new diagnose marker and establishment of quantitative assessment tool of muscle rigidity

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K19448
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 59010:Rehabilitation science-related
• Research Institution: Kanazawa University
• Principal Investigator: Nishikawa Yuichi 金沢大学, フロンティア工学系, 助教 (90644980)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: パーキンソン病 / 運動単位 / 筋電図

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study was to establish a method for quantitatively evaluating "muscle rigidity," one of the main symptoms of Parkinson's disease, by focusing on the changes in motor nerve system activity that occur in patients with the disease. In this study, motor nerve activity was analyzed in a wide range of Parkinson's disease patients from early stage to late stage, and it was confirmed that as symptoms progressed, motor nerve activity showed a different pattern from that shown in normal subjects. In addition, we were able to objectively capture the fact that the excessive activity of the motor nerves was corrected by the administration of oral medication and that the patients exhibited a different pattern of motor nerve activity from that of Parkinson's syndrome, a similar disease. These results suggest that the results can be applied to treatment efficacy and disease differentiation.

Free Research Field

運動生理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

パーキンソン病は、神経変性疾患の中でも有病率が高い疾患であり、高齢化に伴い罹患率も高まっている。パーキンソン病の主症状である筋強剛は、関節が動かしづらくなる症状のことであり、内服薬やリハビリテーションを行う上で、症状がどのように変化したのかを正確に捉える必要があるが、これまでの手法では客観的に症状の変化を捉えることができなかった。本研究成果により、筋強剛の変化を数値として捉えることができ、病期の進行や、内服薬の効果、他の類似疾患との鑑別に有用であるという成果は、パーキンソン病の治療効果判定および疾患の鑑別における新たな評価手法として、非常に意義が高いものであるといえる。