title: Peripheral stimulation in treating Parkinson's disease: Is it a realistic idea or a romantic whimsicality?
abstract: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common, however, intractable neurodegenerative disorder in the aging population. Levodopa (l-dopa) administration is regarded as the most effective strategy in treating PD with prominent motor side-effects after undergoing long-term treatment. Surgical therapies such as deep brain stimulation (DBS) show certain efficacy, yet there are several limitations in adopting such surgical procedures. Therefore, performing electrical stimulation out of the brain, namely peripheral stimulation for PD has been a dream of many clinicians. Recently, the efficacy of dorsal column stimulation was verified in animal PD models; on the other hand, tons of acupunctural studies from East Asia claim good efficacy in treating PD both in bench and clinical studies. This review will introduce the progress of peripheral stimulation for PD, and will discuss the potential mechanisms involved in these strategies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan;
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Asakawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Jinshan Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China;
authors.forename: Huan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan;
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugiyama
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan;
authors.forename: Takao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nozaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan;
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Namba
keywords: Parkinson's disease; deep brain stimulation; dorsal column, acupuncture; peripheral stimulation; somatosensory system