Neurophysiological responses of globus pallidus internus during the auditory oddball task in Parkinson's disease

Neurobiol Dis. 2021 Aug 27:105490. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2021.105490. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTParkinson's disease can be associated with significant cognitive impairment that may lead to dementia. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus is an effective therapy for motor symptoms but is associated with cognitive decline. DBS of globus pallidus internus (GPi) poses less risk of cognitive decline so may be the preferred target. A research priority is to identify biomarkers of cognitive decline in this population, but efforts are hampered by a lack of understanding of the role of the different basal ganglia nuclei, such as the globus pallidus, in cognitive processing. During deep brain stimulation surgery (DBS), we monitored single units, beta oscillatory LFP activity as well as event related potentials from the globus pallidus internus (GPi) of 16 Parkinson's disease patients, while they performed an auditory attention task. We used an auditory oddball task, during which one standard tone is presented at regular intervals and a second deviant tone is presented with a low probability that the subject is requested to count and report at the end of the task. All forms of neuronal activity studied were selective modulated by the attended tones. Of 62 neurons studied, the majority (51 or 82%) responded selectively to the deviant tone. Beta oscillatory activity showed an overall desynchronization during both types of attended tones interspersed by bursts of beta act...
Source: Neurobiology of Disease - Category: Neurology Authors: Source Type: research