title: Electrical engram: how deep brain stimulation affects memory.
abstract: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a surgical procedure involving implantation of a pacemaker that sends electric impulses to specific brain regions. DBS has been applied in patients with Parkinson's disease, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (among others), and more recently in patients with Alzheimer's disease to improve memory functions. Current DBS approaches are based on the concept that high-frequency stimulation inhibits or excites specific brain regions. However, because DBS entails the application of repetitive electrical stimuli, it primarily exerts an effect on extracellular field-potential oscillations similar to those recorded with electroencephalography. Here, we suggest a new perspective on how DBS may ameliorate memory dysfunction: it may enhance normal electrophysiological patterns underlying long-term memory processes within the medial temporal lobe.
authors.affiliation: German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: hwee-ling.lee@dzne.de.
authors.forename: Hweeling
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fell
authors.forename: Nikolai
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Axmacher
mesh_terms: D001703:Biophysics; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D058256:Brain Waves / Q000502:physiology*; D046690:Deep Brain Stimulation; D004569:Electroencephalography; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*