Changes in cerebral blood oxygenation of the frontal lobe induced by direct electrical stimulation of thalamus and globus pallidus: a near infrared spectroscopy study.
(25/2220)
OBJECTIVE: Blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) contrast functional MRI images show activated cortical areas by detecting a reduced concentration of deoxyhaemoglobin (deoxy-Hb) during neuronal activity; however, near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has shown various patterns of cerebral blood oxygenation (CBO) changes in the frontal lobe during cognitive tasks. To determine if various patterns of CBO changes occur in the frontal lobe when the brain is directly stimulated, changes in CBO in the frontal lobe induced by deep brain stimulation in patients with implanted electrodes were evaluated. METHODS: Six patients were studied, including five with Parkinson's disease and one with essential tremor. To reduce tremor or rigidity, the electrodes were implanted at the thalamic nucleus ventralis intermedius (VIM: three Parkinson's disease and one essential tremor) or the globus pallidus internus (GPi: two Parkinson's disease). Using NIRS, changes of deoxy-Hb, oxyhaemoglobin (oxy-Hb) and total haemoglobin (total Hb) were measured in the bilateral frontal lobes during various stimulus conditions. RESULTS: High frequency (120 Hz) GPi stimulation consistently increased oxy-Hb and total Hb with a decrease of deoxy-Hb in an intensity and time dependent manner. Oxy-Hb and total Hb increased immediately after the onset of stimulation and then gradually decreased when stimulation was continued. By contrast, high frequency (120 Hz) VIM stimulation decreased oxy-Hb, deoxy Hb and total Hb in an intensity dependent manner. In the severe tremor patient with VIM stimulation, frequency response was examined by decreasing stimulus frequencies; deoxy-Hb increased at high frequencies (70-40 Hz), and then decreased below the control level at low frequencies (30-0 Hz), whereas oxy-Hb and total Hb increased consistently at high and low frequencies. CONCLUSION: The electrical stimulation of GPi and VIM caused various CBO changes in the frontal lobe, which were similar to those found during cognitive tasks. Such a multiplicity of CBO changes in the frontal lobe may be caused by complex neuronal circuits in the frontal lobe which has many neuronal connections to other cortical areas or the basal ganglia. (+info)
Building neural representations of habits.
(26/2220)
Memories for habits and skills ("implicit or procedural memory") and memories for facts ("explicit or episodic memory") are built up in different brain systems and are vulnerable to different neurodegenerative disorders in humans. So that the striatum-based mechanisms underlying habit formation could be studied, chronic recordings from ensembles of striatal neurons were made with multiple tetrodes as rats learned a T-maze procedural task. Large and widely distributed changes in the neuronal activity patterns occurred in the sensorimotor striatum during behavioral acquisition, culminating in task-related activity emphasizing the beginning and end of the automatized procedure. The new ensemble patterns remained stable during weeks of subsequent performance of the same task. These results suggest that the encoding of action in the sensorimotor striatum undergoes dynamic reorganization as habit learning proceeds. (+info)
Bilateral subthalamic nucleus stimulation improves frontal cortex function in Parkinson's disease. An electrophysiological study of the contingent negative variation.
(27/2220)
Parkinson's disease involves impaired activation of frontal cortical areas, including the supplementary motor area and prefrontal cortex, resulting from impaired thalamocortical output of the basal ganglia. Electrophysiologically, such impaired cortical activation may be seen as a reduced amplitude of the contingent negative variation (CNV), a slow negative potential shift reflecting cognitive processes associated with the preparation and/or anticipation of a response. Surgical interventions aimed at increasing basal ganglia-thalamic outflow to the cortex, such as electrical stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus with chronically implanted electrodes, have been shown to be effective in improving the clinical symptoms of Parkinson's disease. This study examined changes in cortical activity, as reflected in the CNV, associated with bilateral subthalamic nucleus stimulation in Parkinson's disease. The CNV was recorded from 10 patients with Parkinson's disease when on and off bilateral subthalamic nucleus stimulation, and was compared with the CNV of 10 healthy control subjects. Without subthalamic nucleus stimulation, Parkinson's disease patients showed reduced CNV amplitudes over the frontal and frontocentral regions compared with control subjects. With bilateral subthalamic nucleus stimulation, however, CNV amplitudes over the frontal and frontocentral regions were significantly increased. Results therefore suggest that impaired cortical functioning in Parkinson's disease, particularly within the frontal and premotor areas, is improved by subthalamic nucleus stimulation. (+info)
Chronic recordings of hypoglossal nerve activity in a dog model of upper airway obstruction.
(28/2220)
The activity of the hypoglossal nerve was recorded during pharyngeal loading in sleeping dogs with chronically implanted cuff electrodes. Three self-coiling spiral-cuff electrodes were implanted in two beagles for durations of 17, 7, and 6 mo. During quiet wakefulness and sleep, phasic hypoglossal activity was either very small or not observable above the baseline noise. Applying a perpendicular force on the submental region by using a mechanical device to narrow the pharyngeal airway passage increased the phasic hypoglossal activity, the phasic esophageal pressure, and the inspiratory time in the next breath during non-rapid-eye-movement sleep. The phasic hypoglossal activity sustained at the elevated level while the force was present and increased with increasing amounts of loading. The hypoglossal nerve was very active in rapid-eye-movement sleep, especially when the submental force was present. The data demonstrate the feasibility of chronic recordings of the hypoglossal nerve with cuff electrodes and show that hypoglossal activity has a fast and sustained response to the internal loading of the pharynx induced by applying a submental force during non-rapid-eye-movement sleep. (+info)
Temporal properties of chronic cochlear electrical stimulation determine temporal resolution of neurons in cat inferior colliculus.
(29/2220)
As cochlear implants have become increasingly successful in the rehabilitation of adults with profound hearing impairment, the number of pediatric implant subjects has increased. We have developed an animal model of congenital deafness and investigated the effect of electrical stimulus frequency on the temporal resolution of central neurons in the developing auditory system of deaf cats. Maximum following frequencies (Fmax) and response latencies of isolated single neurons to intracochlear electrical pulse trains (charge balanced, constant current biphasic pulses) were recorded in the contralateral inferior colliculus (IC) of two groups of neonatally deafened, barbiturate-anesthetized cats: animals chronically stimulated with low-frequency signals (< or = 80 Hz) and animals receiving chronic high-frequency stimulation (> or = 300 pps). The results were compared with data from unstimulated, acutely deafened and implanted adult cats with previously normal hearing (controls). Characteristic differences were seen between the temporal response properties of neurons in the external nucleus (ICX; approximately 16% of the recordings) and neurons in the central nucleus (ICC; approximately 81% of all recordings) of the IC: 1) in all three experimental groups, neurons in the ICX had significantly lower Fmax and longer response latencies than those in the ICC. 2) Chronic electrical stimulation in neonatally deafened cats altered the temporal resolution of neurons exclusively in the ICC but not in the ICX. The magnitude of this effect was dependent on the frequency of the chronic stimulation. Specifically, low-frequency signals (30 pps, 80 pps) maintained the temporal resolution of ICC neurons, whereas higher-frequency stimuli significantly improved temporal resolution of ICC neurons (i.e., higher Fmax and shorter response latencies) compared with neurons in control cats. Furthermore, Fmax and latencies to electrical stimuli were not correlated with the tonotopic gradient of the ICC, and changes in temporal resolution following chronic electrical stimulation occurred uniformly throughout the entire ICC. In all three experimental groups, increasing Fmax was correlated with shorter response latencies. The results indicate that the temporal features of the chronically applied electrical signals critically influence temporal processing of neurons in the cochleotopically organized ICC. We suggest that such plastic changes in temporal processing of central auditory neurons may contribute to the intersubject variability and gradual improvements in speech recognition performance observed in clinical studies of deaf children using cochlear implants. (+info)
Gustatory neuron types in rat geniculate ganglion.
(30/2220)
We used extracellular single-cell recording procedures to characterize the chemical and thermal sensitivity of the rat geniculate ganglion to lingual stimulation, and to examine the effects of specific ion transport antagonists on salt transduction mechanisms. Hierarchical cluster analysis of the responses from 73 single neurons to 3 salts (0.075 and 0.3 M NaCl, KCl, and NH(4) Cl), 0.5 M sucrose, 0.01 M HCl, and 0.02 M quinine HCl (QHCl) indicated 3 main groups that responded best to either sucrose, HCl, or NaCl. Eight narrowly tuned neurons were deemed sucrose-specialists and 33 broadly tuned neurons as HCl-generalists. The NaCl group contained three identifiable subclusters: 18 NaCl-specialists, 11 NaCl-generalists, and 3 QHCl-generalists. Sucrose- and NaCl-specialists responded specifically to sucrose and NaCl, respectively. All generalist neurons responded to salt, acid, and alkaloid stimuli to varying degree and order depending on neuron type. Response order was NaCl > HCl = QHCl > sucrose in NaCl-generalists, HCl > NaCl > QHCl > sucrose in HCl-generalists, and QHCl = NaCl = HCl > sucrose in QHCl-generalists. NaCl-specialists responded robustly to low and high NaCl concentrations, but weakly, if at all, to high KCl and NH(4) Cl concentrations after prolonged stimulation. HCl-generalist neurons responded to all three salts, but at twice the rate to NH(4) Cl than to NaCl and KCl. NaCl- and QHCl-generalists responded equally to the three salts. Amiloride and 5-(N,N-dimethyl)-amiloride (DMA), antagonists of Na(+) channels and Na(+)/H(+) exchangers, respectively, inhibited the responses to 0.075 M NaCl only in NaCl-specialist neurons. The K(+) channel antagonist, 4-aminopyridine (4-AP), was without a suppressive effect on salt responses, but, when applied alone in solution, it evoked a response in many HCl-generalists and one QHCl-generalist neuron so tested. Of the 39 neurons tested for their sensitivity to temperature, 23 responded to cooling and chemical stimulation, and 20 of these neurons were HCl-generalists. Moreover, the responses to the four standard stimuli were reduced progressively at lower temperatures in HCl- and QHCl-generalist neurons, but not in NaCl-specialists. Thus sodium channels and Na(+)/H(+) exchangers appear to be expressed exclusively on the membranes of receptor cells that synapse with NaCl-specialist neurons. In addition, cooling sensitivity and taste-temperature interactions appear to be prominent features of broadly tuned neuron groups, particularly HCl-generalists. Taken all together, it appears that lingual taste cells make specific connections with afferent fibers that allow gustatory stimuli to be parceled into different input pathways. In general, these neurons are organized physiologically into specialist and generalist types. The sucrose- and NaCl-specialists alone can provide sufficient information to distinguish sucrose and NaCl from other stimuli, respectively. (+info)
Attributes of quiet stance in the chronic spinal cat.
(31/2220)
Standing is a dynamic task that requires antigravity support of the body mass and active regulation of the position of the body center of mass. This study examined the extent to which the chronic spinal cat can maintain postural orientation during stance and adapt to changes in stance distance (fore-hindpaw separation). Intact cats adapt to changes in stance distance by maintaining a constant horizontal orientation of the trunk and changing orientation of the limbs, while keeping intralimb geometry constant and aligning the ground reaction forces closely with the limb axes. Postural adaptation was compared in four cats before and after spinalization at the T(6) level, in terms of the forces exerted by each paw against the support, body geometry (kinematics) and electromyographic (EMG) activity recorded from chronic, indwelling electrodes, as well as the computed net torques in the fore and hindlimbs. Five fore-hindpaw distances spanning the preferred distance were tested before spinalization, with a total range of 20 cm from the shortest to the longest stance. After spinalization, the cats were trained on a daily basis to stand on the force platform, and all four cats were able to support their full body weight. Three of the four cats could adapt to changes in stance distance, but the range was smaller and biased toward the shorter distances. The fourth cat could stand only at one stance distance, which was 8 cm shorter than the preferred distance before spinalization. All cats shifted their center of pressure closer to the forelimbs after spinalization, but the amount of shift could largely be accounted for by the weight loss in the hindquarters. The three cats that could adapt to changes in stance distance used a similar strategy as the intact cat by constraining the trunk and changing orientation of the limb axes in close relation with the forces exerted by each limb. However, different postures in the fore- and hindlimbs were adopted, particularly at the scapula (more extended) and pelvis (tipped more anteriorly). Other changes from control included a redistribution of net extensor torque across the joints of the forelimb and of the hindlimb. We concluded that the general form of body axis orientation is relatively conserved in the spinal cat, suggesting that the lumbosacral spinal circuitry includes rudimentary set points for hindlimb geometry. Both mechanical and neural elements can contribute toward maintaining body geometry through stiffness regulation and spinal reflexes. (+info)
Weight support and balance during perturbed stance in the chronic spinal cat.
(32/2220)
The intact cat maintains balance during unexpected disturbances of stance through automatic postural responses that are stereotyped and rapid. The extent to which the chronic spinal cat can maintain balance during stance is unclear, and there have been no quantitative studies that examined this question directly. This study examined whether the isolated lumbosacral cord of the chronic spinal cat can generate automatic postural responses in the hindlimbs during translation of the support surface. Responses to 16 directions of linear translation in the horizontal plane were quantified before and after spinalization at the T(6) level in terms of forces exerted by each paw against the support, motion of the body segments (kinematics), and electromyographic (EMG) activity. After spinalization, the cats were trained on a daily basis to stand on the force platform, and all four cats were able to support their full body weight. The cats usually required assistance for balance or stability in the horizontal plane, which was provided by an experimenter exerting gentle lateral force at the level of the hips. Three of the four animals could maintain independent stance for a brief period (10 s) after the experimenter stabilized them. The fourth cat maintained weight support but always required assistance with balance. Perturbations were delivered during the periods of independent stance in three cats and during assisted stance in the fourth. A response to translation in the spinal cats was observed only in those muscles that were tonically active to maintain stance and never in the flexors. Moreover, latencies were increased and amplitudes of activation were diminished compared with control. Nevertheless, flexors and extensors were recruited easily during behaviors such as paw shake and stepping. It is concluded that centers above the lumbosacral cord are required for the full elaboration of automatic postural responses. Although the spinal cat can achieve good weight support, it cannot maintain balance during stance except for brief periods and within narrow limits. This limited stability is probably achieved through spinal reflex mechanisms and the stiffness characteristics of the tonically active extensors. (+info)