Subthalamic nucleus, sensorimotor cortex and muscle interrelationships in Parkinson's disease

Abstract

Ten patients with Parkinson's disease were seen following bilateral or unilateral implantation of macroelectrodes into the subthalamic nucleus. Local field potentials (LFPs) were recorded from adjacent subthalamic nucleus macroelectrode (STNME) contacts simultaneously with EEG activity over the supplementary motor (Cz-FCz) and sensorimotor (C3/4-FC3/4) areas and EMG activity from the contralateral wrist extensors during isometric and phasic wrist movements. Significant coherence was seen between STNME LFPs and Cz-FCz, STNME LFPs and C3/4-FC3/4, and STNME LFPs and EMG over the range 7-45 Hz. EEG phase-led STNME LFPs by 24.4 ms (95% confidence interval 19.8 to 29.0 ms). EMG also led STNME LFPs, but time differences tended to cluster around one of two values: 6.3 ms (-0.7 to 13.3 ms) and 46.5 ms (26.2 to 66.8 ms). Recordings from the STNME contact that demonstrated the most consistent coherence with Cz-FCz in the 15-30 Hz band coincided with the contact which, when electrically stimulated at high frequencies, produced the most effective clinical response in eight out of nine (89%) subjects (P < 0.01). Oscillatory activity at 15-30 Hz may therefore prove of use in localizing the subthalamic nucleus target that provides the best clinical effect on stimulation. These results extend the hypothesis that coherent activity may be useful in binding together related activities in simultaneously active motor centres. The presence of coherence between EEG and STNME LFPs in both the beta and the gamma band (as opposed to only the beta band between EEG and cerebellar thalamus) suggests that there may be some relative frequency selectivity in the communication between different motor structures.

Complexity of resting-state EEG activity in the patients with early-stage Parkinson’s disease

“…The brain rhythms, such as beta, gamma, or alpha, recorded in these cortical areas are tightly related to the motor action and ability. The abnormities of the oscillatory activity in relevant frequency band have been shown to be associated with both the motor symptoms and the disease progression of PD (Marsden et al 2001;Rowland et al 2015). Then, the changes of PE or OI at C3 or C4 channels may be developed into a potential marker of the dyskinesia caused by PD.…”

Beta Oscillatory Activity in the Subthalamic Nucleus and Its Relation to Dopaminergic Response in Parkinson's Disease

“…For example, in vivo recordings from the rat STN demonstrate a close correspondence between synchronized neuronal and LFP activity after cortical stimulation (Magill et al 2004). Phase estimates between the subthalamic area and cortical EEG suggest that cortical inputs drive STN LFP beta oscillatory activity (Fogelson et al 2006;Marsden et al 2001b;Williams et al 2002) by two possible routes, either indirectly by the striatum/globus pallidus externus (GPe) or by a direct projection to the subthalamic nucleus (Parent and Hazrati 1995). Moreover, previous studies in a rodent model of parkinsonism established that the cerebral cortex can induce pathological patterns of neuronal activity in the STN, perhaps as the result of greater sensitivity of the STN to rhythmic cortical inputs (Magill et al 2001;Paz et al 2005).…”

“…A dissociation between beta oscillatory LFPs and the clinical symptoms was also observed by Priori et al (2004), who showed that anticholinergic drug orphenadrine improved rigidity and tremor but also increased beta oscillatory activity. Dopaminergic medication and active movements are known to decrease STN beta synchronization (Brown et al 2001;Foffani et al 2005;Kuhn et al 2004;Levy et al 2002;Marsden et al 2001b;Priori et al 2002Priori et al , 2004 and deep brain stimulation in the STN may alleviate PD symptoms by disrupting this oscillatory activity (Brown et al 2004;Filali et al 2004;Jahanshahi et al 2000;Lozano et al 2002). It was previously hypothesized that dopamine action on the striatum acts as a filter for cortical input to the STN (Doyle et al 2005;Magill et al 2001Magill et al , 2004Sharott et al 2005).…”

“…Depth recordings of local field potentials (LFPs) in STN of PD patients have demonstrated prominent oscillatory activity in the beta frequency band (15-30 Hz) (Brown et al 2001;Cassidy et al 2002;Kuhn et al 2004;Levy et al 2002), which is consonant with cortical EEG activity (Marsden et al 2001b;Williams et al 2002). The STN beta LFPs are decreased by dopaminergic medication and active movements (Alegre et al 2005;Alonso-Frech et al 2006;Cassidy et al 2002;Doyle et al 2005;Foffani et al 2005;Kuhn et al 2004;Levy et al 2002;Priori et al 2004;Williams et al 2003).…”

Bursts of beta oscillation differentiate postperformance activity in the striatum and motor cortex of monkeys performing movement tasks

“…basal ganglia | local field potentials | beta band | sequential movement | synchronization O scillations of brain activity in the beta band (13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30) Hz) have been implicated in sensorimotor control and integration (1)(2)(3)(4)(5) and are pathologically synchronized and exaggerated in Parkinson's disease (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11). Although reports have published examples of very brief (<150 ms) bursts of beta-band oscillation (12)(13)(14)(15), the analysis of beta-band activity has focused primarily on data averaged over trials, which show variations in average beta-band power occurring on a time scale of seconds.…”