1. Pedunculopontine nucleus deep brain stimulation changes spinal cord excitability in Parkinson’s disease patients.
- Author
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Pierantozzi, Mariangela, Palmieri, Maria Giuseppina, Galati, Salvatore, Stanzione, Paolo, Peppe, Antonella, Tropepi, Domenicantonio, Brusa, Livia, Pisani, Antonio, Moschella, Vincenzo, Marciani, Maria Grazia, Mazzone, Paolo, and Stefani, Alessandro
- Subjects
PARKINSON'S disease ,BRAIN diseases ,BRAIN stimulation ,NEURAL stimulation ,CENTRAL nervous system ,BRAIN stem - Abstract
Bilateral peduncolopontine nucleus (PPN) and subthalamic nucleus (STN) deep brain stimulation (DBS) was performed in six-advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. We report the effect of both PPN-DBS (25 Hz) and STN-DBS (185 Hz) on patient spinal reflex excitability by utilizing the soleus-Hoffman reflex (HR) threshold. Compared to controls ( n = 9), patients showed an increase of HR-threshold, which was scarcely affected by levodopa, but significantly reduced by DBS. In particular, we found that PPN-DBS alone, or plus STN-DBS induced a complete recovery of HR-threshold up to control values. The HR-threshold changes, although do not allow to investigate the contribution of specific intraspinal pathways, suggest that PPN may play a key-role in modulating spinal excitability in PD possibly by improving the basal ganglia-brainstem descending system activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2008
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