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Subthalamic nucleus high‐frequency stimulation generates a concomitant synaptic excitation–inhibition in substantia nigra pars reticulata
Author(s) -
Bosch Clémentine,
Degos Bertrand,
Deniau JeanMichel,
Venance Laurent
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the journal of physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.802
H-Index - 240
eISSN - 1469-7793
pISSN - 0022-3751
DOI - 10.1113/jphysiol.2011.211367
Subject(s) - subthalamic nucleus , substantia nigra , stimulation , basal ganglia , neuroscience , nucleus , chemistry , deep brain stimulation , medicine , anesthesia , parkinson's disease , biology , dopamine , central nervous system , disease , dopaminergic
Non‐technical summary Parkinson's disease, a neurodegenerative pathology, causes motor and cognitive impairments such as tremor at rest, muscle rigidity and depression. An efficient surgical therapy, deep brain stimulation, allows treatment of most symptoms of Parkinson's disease. The principle of deep brain stimulation is to stimulate electrically, at high frequency and low intensity, the subthalamic nucleus. However, how deep brain stimulation works is still not fully elucidated. We investigated the mechanism of deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus by recording the activity of neurons that are directly under the control of subthalamic nucleus neurons. We demonstrate that deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus activates local subthalamic glutamatergic neurons as well as GABAergic fibres travelling through this structure inducing a synaptic excitation–inhibition balance in the output structure. Thus, we conclude that deep brain stimulation restores the activity of the pathological brain network by providing a proper excitation–inhibition balance.