title: Subthalamic nucleus neuronal activity in Parkinson's disease and epilepsy subjects.
abstract: Activity from 113 subthalamic nucleus (STN) neurons from two epilepsy patients and 103 neurons from 9 Parkinson's disease (PD) patients undergoing DBS surgery showed no significant differences in frequencies (PD, mean 7.5+/-7.0 spikes/s (sps), epilepsy mean 7.8+/-8.5 sps) or in the coefficients of variation of mean discharge frequencies per 1s epochs. A striking relationship between mean discharge frequencies per 1 s epochs and the standard deviations for both groups were consistent with a random Poisson processes. These and similar findings call into question theories that posit increased STN activity is causal to parkinsonism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, H6/538 CSC, 600 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53792, USA. montgomery@neurology.wisc.edu <montgomery@neurology.wisc.edu>
authors.forename: Erwin B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Montgomery
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D046690:Deep Brain Stimulation; D004567:Electrodes, Implanted; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004594:Electrophysiology; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D005917:Globus Pallidus / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008839:Microelectrodes; D008875:Middle Aged; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D020531:Subthalamic Nucleus / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D020651:Ventral Thalamic Nuclei / Q000503:physiopathology