Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35384055›Full record

ArticleMovement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society2022

The Contribution of Noradrenergic Activity to Anxiety-Induced Freezing of Gait.

Natasha L Taylor, Gabriel Wainstein, Dione Quek, Simon J G Lewis, James M Shine, Kaylena A Ehgoetz Martens

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Article in Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
27citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

27 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
  2. Article
  3. Article
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  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. The Noradrenergic Brain in Parkinson's Disease.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2026
    Review
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. What is new in Freezing of Gait?Journal of neurology · 2026
    Review
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Neuromodulation of Cortical Targets in Freezing of Gait.The European journal of neuroscience · 2026
    Review
  14. Article
  15. Review
  16. Review
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
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

6 authors.

Natasha L TaylorForeFront PD Research Clinic, Brain and Mind Centre, School of Medical Sciences, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-3714-8290
Gabriel WainsteinForeFront PD Research Clinic, Brain and Mind Centre, School of Medical Sciences, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-8106-6647
Dione QuekForeFront PD Research Clinic, Brain and Mind Centre, School of Medical Sciences, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.
Simon J G LewisForeFront PD Research Clinic, Brain and Mind Centre, School of Medical Sciences, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-4093-7071
James M ShineForeFront PD Research Clinic, Brain and Mind Centre, School of Medical Sciences, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID 0000-0003-1762-5499
Kaylena A Ehgoetz MartensDepartment of Kinesiology and Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-8488-2295

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundFreezing of gait is a complex paroxysmal phenomenon that is associated with a variety of sensorimotor, cognitive and affective deficits, and significantly impacts quality of life in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Despite a growing body of evidence that suggests anxiety may be a crucial contributor to freezing of gait, no research study to date has investigated neural underpinnings of anxiety-induced freezing of gait.

objectiveHere, we aimed to investigate how anxiety-inducing contexts might "set the stage for freezing," through the ascending arousal system, by examining an anxiety-inducing virtual reality gait paradigm inside functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

methodsWe used a virtual reality gait paradigm that has been validated to elicit anxiety by having participants navigate a virtual plank, while simultaneously collecting task-based fMRI from individuals with idiopathic PD with confirmed freezing of gait.

resultsFirst, we established that the threatening condition provoked more freezing when compared to the non-threatening condition. By using a dynamic connectivity analysis, we identified patterns of increased "cross-talk" within and between motor, limbic, and cognitive networks in the threatening conditions. We established that the threatening condition was associated with heightened network integration. We confirmed the sympathetic nature of this phenomenon by demonstrating an increase in pupil dilation during the anxiety-inducing condition of the virtual reality gait paradigm in a secondary experiment.

conclusionsIn conclusion, our findings represent a neurobiological mechanistic pathway through which heightened sympathetic arousal related to anxiety could foster increased "cross-talk" between distributed cortical networks that ultimately manifest as paroxysmal episodes of freezing of gait. © 2022 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Indexed as

Gait Disorders, NeurologicParkinson DiseaseAnxietyGaitHumansQuality of Lifeanxietyfreezing of gaitnoradrenalineParkinson's diseasetask-fMRI

Identifiers

PMID35384055
PMCPMC9540856

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.