Affiliation: This work was performed under Prof. Avniel Ghuman, PhD and Prof. Mark Richardson, MD/PhD of the University of Pittsburgh
Summary: Parkinson’s disease is a common movement and cognitive disorder characterized by the progressive degeneration of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons. While traditionally treated with dopaminergic medications, when medications no longer provide consistent efficacy or lead to severe dyskinesias, high frequency deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and globus pallidus internus (Gpi) have become an established and effective means of managing the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. However, the mechanism of DBS is still elusive and poorly understood. While there has been significant headway in characterizing the changes in connectivity between subcortical regions, to date, no studies have reported on what happens to long range cortical to cortical synchronization during DBS.
Here we investigated how DBS influences the functional connectivity across the cortical network utilizing MEG and a network compression model based upon spectral graph theory. We found that DBS generates high beta band synchrony (26 to 32 Hz) across a spatially distinct network consisting of the bilateral motor cortex, bilateral occipitoparietal lobe, middle/inferior temporal lobe, and bilateral prefrontal lobe.
Manuscript currently in preparation for submission to Brain