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.
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Pierantozzi, M., Palmieri, M.G., Galati, S. et al. Pedunculopontine nucleus deep brain stimulation changes spinal cord excitability in Parkinson’s disease patients. J Neural Transm 115, 731–735 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-007-0001-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-007-0001-8