About this Research Topic
In Parkinson’s Disease (PD), defects of executive functions and other cognitive abnormalities may be present even in early stages of the disease, and they may appear in patients who do not exhibit dementia. These defects may include difficulties in planning, working and visual memory defects, lexical and attention deficits, as well as difficulty in dual and sequencing tasks. Patients with dysexecutive syndrome show a higher risk to develop dementia and, moreover, a large number of PD patients with dementia show rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD). Sleep disturbances (diurnal somnolence and RBD) may also be present in the premotor or early stages of PD. All afore-mentioned considerations support the hypothesis that sleep and cognitive disorders may share common pathogenetic mechanisms in PD.
Poor sleep efficiency, a common finding in PD, could partially explain reduced cognitive performance during the daytime. This has been demonstrated in other populations (shift workers) and in other pathological conditions. In these cases, individuals have been found to exhibit diurnal somnolence, depression, as well as altered attention and working memory.
However, in PD, a specific alteration of macro- and microstructure of the sleep can influence the appearance of cognitive symptoms. Indeed, some authors believe that REM sleep facilitates higher complex activity such as memory. Programmed reordering of mental events occurs during the unconscious status of REM sleep, so that a nightly replay of daytime events during REM sleep enhances the storage of these events. Both REM and NREM sleep may “restorative” to the brain, including for the promotion of clearance of abnormal proteins implicated in neurodegeneration. In addition, neurodegeneration in PD affects several regions involved in sleep and wakefulness, including the brainstem, thalamus, and hypothalamus.
The aim of this Research Topic is to describe the epidemiology and risk factors pertaining to sleep disorders in PD, by considering all subtypes shown in the course of the disease, with a focus on RBD and periodic limb movements, and how these may impact cognition in this patient population.
Thus, this Research Topic will welcome any types of manuscripts supported by the Journal – comprised of research article, brief research article, review, and mini-review – pertaining, but not limited to the following themes:
• The clinical manifestation of sleep disorders in PD.
• The symptomatology and diagnostic features of PD.
• Pathogenesis of Sleep disorders in PD, including neurophysiological and neuroimaging data.
• Description of Macrostructure and Microstructure of sleep in PD, both from the neurophysiological point of view as well focusing on reporting all the known significance of the relationship between REM and N-REM phases and cognitive functions, even in the general population.
• Cognitive dysfunctions, including the epidemiology and the clinical manifestations of the dysexecutive syndrome.
• The features of cognitive functions in patients with sleep disorders in PD.
Conflicts of interest: Dr Amara serves as a consultant for Photopharmics, Inc. and for Grey Matter Technologies, LLC. The other Topic Editors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Poor sleep efficiency, a common finding in PD, could partially explain reduced cognitive performance during the daytime. This has been demonstrated in other populations (shift workers) and in other pathological conditions. In these cases, individuals have been found to exhibit diurnal somnolence, depression, as well as altered attention and working memory.
However, in PD, a specific alteration of macro- and microstructure of the sleep can influence the appearance of cognitive symptoms. Indeed, some authors believe that REM sleep facilitates higher complex activity such as memory. Programmed reordering of mental events occurs during the unconscious status of REM sleep, so that a nightly replay of daytime events during REM sleep enhances the storage of these events. Both REM and NREM sleep may “restorative” to the brain, including for the promotion of clearance of abnormal proteins implicated in neurodegeneration. In addition, neurodegeneration in PD affects several regions involved in sleep and wakefulness, including the brainstem, thalamus, and hypothalamus.
The aim of this Research Topic is to describe the epidemiology and risk factors pertaining to sleep disorders in PD, by considering all subtypes shown in the course of the disease, with a focus on RBD and periodic limb movements, and how these may impact cognition in this patient population.
Thus, this Research Topic will welcome any types of manuscripts supported by the Journal – comprised of research article, brief research article, review, and mini-review – pertaining, but not limited to the following themes:
• The clinical manifestation of sleep disorders in PD.
• The symptomatology and diagnostic features of PD.
• Pathogenesis of Sleep disorders in PD, including neurophysiological and neuroimaging data.
• Description of Macrostructure and Microstructure of sleep in PD, both from the neurophysiological point of view as well focusing on reporting all the known significance of the relationship between REM and N-REM phases and cognitive functions, even in the general population.
• Cognitive dysfunctions, including the epidemiology and the clinical manifestations of the dysexecutive syndrome.
• The features of cognitive functions in patients with sleep disorders in PD.
Conflicts of interest: Dr Amara serves as a consultant for Photopharmics, Inc. and for Grey Matter Technologies, LLC. The other Topic Editors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Keywords: cognition, sleep, Parkinson's disease
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
