title: Subthalamic Neurons Encode Both Single- and Multi-Limb Movements in Parkinson's Disease Patients.
abstract: The subthalamic nucleus (STN) is the main target for neurosurgical treatment of motor signs of Parkinson's disease (PD). Despite the therapeutic effect on both upper and lower extremities, its role in motor control and coordination and its changes in Parkinson's disease are not fully clear. We intraoperatively recorded single unit activity in ten patients with PD who performed repetitive feet or hand movements while undergoing implantation of a deep brain stimulator. We found both distinct and overlapping representations of upper and lower extremity movement kinematics in subthalamic units and observed evidence for re-routing to a multi-limb representation that participates in limb coordination. The well-known subthalamic somatotopy showed a large overlap of feet and hand representations in the PD patients. This overlap and excessive amounts of kinematics or coordination units may reflect pathophysiology or compensatory mechanisms. Our findings thus explain, at the single neuron level, the important subthalamic role in motor control and coordination and indicate the effect of PD on the neuronal representation of movement.
authors.affiliation: Center for study of Movement, Cognition and Mobility, Department of Neurology, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv 6423906, Israel.|Functional Neurosurgery Unit, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv 6423906, Israel.|Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel.|Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel.
authors.forename: Ariel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tankus
authors.affiliation: Functional Neurosurgery Unit, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv 6423906, Israel.
authors.forename: Ido
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Strauss
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel.|Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel.|Department of Neurology, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv 6423906, Israel.
authors.forename: Tanya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gurevich
authors.affiliation: Center for study of Movement, Cognition and Mobility, Department of Neurology, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv 6423906, Israel.|Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel.
authors.forename: Anat
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mirelman
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel.|Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel.|Department of Neurology, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv 6423906, Israel.|Sieratzki Chair in Neurology, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel.
authors.forename: Nir
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Giladi
authors.affiliation: Functional Neurosurgery Unit, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv 6423906, Israel.|Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel.|Department of Neurosurgery, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Itzhak
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fried
authors.affiliation: Center for study of Movement, Cognition and Mobility, Department of Neurology, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv 6423906, Israel.|Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel.|Department of Physical Therapy, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel.
authors.forename: Jeffrey M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Hausdorff
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005121:Extremities / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008124:Locomotion; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D020531:Subthalamic Nucleus / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed