ePoster

Comparing stimulation and lesioning in a network model of essential tremor: Mechanisms and treatment

Nada Yousif, Roman Borisyuk, Ayesha Jameel, Joely Smith, Wladyslaw Gedroyc, Brynmor Jones, Dipankar Nandi, Peter Bain
FENS Forum 2024(2024)
Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center, Vienna, Austria

Conference

FENS Forum 2024

Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center, Vienna, Austria

Resources

Authors & Affiliations

Nada Yousif, Roman Borisyuk, Ayesha Jameel, Joely Smith, Wladyslaw Gedroyc, Brynmor Jones, Dipankar Nandi, Peter Bain

Abstract

Essential tremor (ET) is characterised by oscillations of the upper limb, impacting severely on daily activities. Treatments include deep brain stimulation (DBS) and MR guided focussed ultrasound (MRgFUS). In DBS, electrodes are implanted into the ventral intermediate nucleus (VIM) of the thalamus. and a current is applied. MRgFUS non-invasively creates a lesion in the VIM using ultrasound. Both DBS and MRgFUS have been proposed to target the dentatorubrothalamic tract (DRTT) which connects the dentate nucleus with the thalamus and motor cortex, and particularly the posterior part. Recent work has shown improved tremor suppression with electrode and lesion proximity to the DRTT. We previously described a Wilson-Cowan model of the thalamocortical, basal ganglia-cerebellar network which generates pathological oscillatory activity in the tremor band (4 Hz) representative of ET. Here we use this model to investigate how MRgFUS lesioning and stimulation of the DRTT impacts on this activity. We represented DBS by applying a square pulse stimulus to the VIM population and lesioning by systematically reducing the strength of the connection between cerebellum and VIM, and the connection between VIM and cortex. We find that as DBS amplitude increases (Figure A), the magnitude of the thalamic activity decreases (relative to the dashed line) indicating the suppression of the pathological oscillations. A similar effect is seen as the strength of the DRTT connections are reduced (Figure B & C, red line shows baseline connection strength). The next steps will use diffusion tensor imaging to inform the model on the changes induced by treatment.

Unique ID: fens-24/comparing-stimulation-lesioning-network-7eba0352