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Orofacial motor control impairment in Parkinson's disease

Department of Neurology and Neurophysiology (Dr. Abbs), Clinical Science Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI; the Speech Motor Control Laboratories (Dr. Abbs), Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison; and the Department of Neurology-Neurosurgery (Drs. Abbs, Hartman, and Vishwanat), Gundersen Medical Foundation, La Crosse, WI.

Motor impairments in lip, jaw, and tongue muscles in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) were quantified. These orofacial muscle groups are nonuniformly endowed with muscle afferents, thus permitting evaluation of the hypothesis that certain PD motor symptoms are due to aberrations in muscle afferent function. Tongue muscles, devoid of stretch reflexes, were most impaired, while jaw-closing muscles, with numerous spindles and a monosynaptic stretch reflex, manifested the least impairment. Seemingly, PD motor impairments are independent of fusimotor or muscle afferent dysfunctions.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Abbs, Speech Motor Control Laboratories, 1500 Highland Avenue, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53705–2280.

Received August 27, 1985. Accepted for publication in final form June 23, 1986.

Supported by NIH Grants NS-13274 and HD-03352 and the Gundersen Medical Foundation.