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Authors & Affiliations
Fabiana Santana Kragelund, Denise Franz, Marco Heerdegen, Anika Lüttig, Stefanie Perl, Angelika Richter, Rüdiger Köhling
Abstract
Aims: Dystonia is a neurological syndrome that alters voluntary muscle control and sustained posture. The most promising targets for deep brain stimulation (DBS) are the subthalamic nucleus or Globus Pallidus internus (GPi). DBS has shown compelling therapeutic advantages in many individuals with primary generalized/segmental dystonia. However, the mechanisms of DBS still need to be clarified. In this context, we were interested in the impact of pallidal DBS on cerebellar activity. Methods: We investigated this topic using a model of primary paroxysmal dystonia (dtsz hamster, 2 months old), implanted bilaterally with bipolar electrodes in the entopeduncular nucleus, homologous to human GPi. The hamster received continuous long-term DBS (130Hz, 50µA- 11 days). Spontaneous activity of parasagittal cerebellar slices was recorded using a high-density microelectrode array (sampled at 20.000 Hz/electrode). Results: Our results indicated unexpected effects of pallidal DBS modulating the cerebellar cortex. Since data was not normally distributed, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used following the two-way ANOVA on Ranks, showing a significant difference in both molecular and granular layers (p < 0.05). The post-hoc Dunn’s test showed that the DBS group had significantly increased the mean firing rate compared to the dtsz control and the sham groups (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Our findings validated our theory that DBS has a global network effect rather than a local one on the stimulation target. The results support the evidence of cerebellar abnormalities in dystonia and show a correlation between pallidal DBS and changes in activity in multiple brain regions, including the basal-ganglia-cerebellar network.