Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25981960›Full record

ArticleBrain : a journal of neurology2015

Longitudinal changes in free-water within the substantia nigra of Parkinson's disease.

Edward Ofori, Ofer Pasternak, Peggy J Planetta, Hong Li, Roxana G Burciu, Amy F Snyder, Song Lai, Michael S Okun, David E Vaillancourt

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Brain : a journal of neurology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 135 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
135citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
16.8field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

135 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 216 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Trial
  4. Article
  5. One-Year Substantia NigraMovement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society · 2026
    Article
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  9. Review
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  13. Whole transcriptome analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from de novo and drug-naive Parkinson's disease patients.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2025
    Article
  14. Article
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75 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Edward Ofori1 Department of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology, University of Florida, USA.
Ofer Pasternak2 Departments of Psychiatry and Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA.
Peggy J Planetta1 Department of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology, University of Florida, USA.
Hong Li3 Department of Preventative Medicine, Rush University Medical Centre, USA.
Roxana G Burciu1 Department of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology, University of Florida, USA.
Amy F Snyder1 Department of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology, University of Florida, USA.
Song Lai4 Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Florida, USA 5 Human Imaging Core, Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Florida, USA.
Michael S Okun6 Department of Neurology and Centre for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration, University of Florida, USA 7 Departments of Neurosurgery, Psychiatry, and History, University of Florida, USA.
David E Vaillancourt1 Department of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology, University of Florida, USA 6 Department of Neurology and Centre for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration, University of Florida, USA 8 Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, USA vcourt@ufl.edu.
University of Florida · USBrigham and Women's Hospital · USRush University Medical Center · US

Funding

Using social networks to map and evaluate team science across CTSA hubsUL1TR001427 · NCATS · UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA · PI MITCHELL, DUANE A. · 2015 to 2024
$37.2M
UF Clinical and Translational Science AwardUL1TR000064 · NCATS · UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA · PI NELSON, DAVID R · 2012 to 2014
$12.2M
Scaling and Sequencing Motor Output in Humans: fMRI StudyR01NS052318 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO · PI VAILLANCOURT, DAVID E · 2005 to 2020
$6.0M
Non-Invasive Markers of Neurodegeneration in Movement DisordersR01NS075012 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA · PI LI, YUQING, VAILLANCOURT, DAVID E · 2012 to 2022
$4.1M
NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR000064NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR001427NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS052318NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS075012
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

There is a clear need to develop non-invasive markers of substantia nigra progression in Parkinson's disease. We previously found elevated free-water levels in the substantia nigra for patients with Parkinson's disease compared with controls in single-site and multi-site cohorts. Here, we test the hypotheses that free-water levels in the substantia nigra of Parkinson's disease increase following 1 year of progression, and that baseline free-water levels in the substantia nigra predict the change in bradykinesia following 1 year. We conducted a longitudinal study in controls (n = 19) and patients with Parkinson's disease (n = 25). Diffusion imaging and clinical data were collected at baseline and after 1 year. Free-water analyses were performed on diffusion imaging data using blinded, hand-drawn regions of interest in the posterior substantia nigra. A group effect indicated free-water values were increased in the posterior substantia nigra of patients with Parkinson's disease compared with controls (P = 0.003) and we observed a significant group × time interaction (P < 0.05). Free-water values increased for the Parkinson's disease group after 1 year (P = 0.006), whereas control free-water values did not change. Baseline free-water values predicted the 1 year change in bradykinesia scores (r = 0.74, P < 0.001) and 1 year change in Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores (r = -0.44, P = 0.03). Free-water in the posterior substantia nigra is elevated in Parkinson's disease, increases with progression of Parkinson's disease, and predicts subsequent changes in bradykinesia and cognitive status over 1 year. These findings demonstrate that free-water provides a potential non-invasive progression marker of the substantia nigra.

Indexed as

AdultAgedDisease ProgressionFemaleHumansImage Processing, Computer-AssistedLongitudinal StudiesMaleMiddle AgedParkinson DiseaseSubstantia NigraWaterWaterdiffusion MRIextracellular spacelongitudinalParkinson’s diseasesubstantia nigra

Identifiers

PMID25981960
PMCPMC4840947
OpenAlexW2112492995

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.