title: Gender-related differences in the human subthalamic area: a local field potential study.
abstract: The objective of this study was to investigate the possible existence of gender-related neurophysiological differences in the oscillatory activity of the human subthalamic area. To this end, we recorded local field potentials (LFPs) after neurosurgical procedures for deep brain stimulation (DBS) in 24 patients (12 males and 12 females) with Parkinson's disease. LFP recordings at rest before levodopa medication (19 nuclei from 11 female patients and 16 nuclei from ten male patients) showed significantly higher power in the alpha/low-beta band (8-12 Hz, P<0.01; 13-20 Hz, P=0.03) in females than in males. After levodopa medication (ten nuclei from six female patients and 11 nuclei from seven male patients), the power in the high-gamma band (60-90 Hz) and of the 300 Hz rhythm was significantly higher in females than in males (high-gamma, P=0.007; 300 Hz, P=0.002). These findings show that functional gender-related differences in the central nervous system involve the human subthalamic area (STN) and its response to levodopa in Parkinson's disease. Gender-related neurophysiological differences may be important for understanding gender-specific features of neurodegenerative disorders and should be considered when interpreting LFP data from the human basal ganglia.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Neurologiche, Università di Milano, Fondazione IRCCS Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Mangiagalli e Regina Elena, Milano, 20122 Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marceglia
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mrakic-Sposta
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Foffani
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cogiamanian
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Caputo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Egidi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Barbieri
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Priori
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001683:Biological Clocks / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D004351:Drug Resistance / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007980:Levodopa / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D020531:Subthalamic Nucleus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D000978:Antiparkinson Agents; D007980:Levodopa