Cognitive dysfunction is a common, but often unappreciated, symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease (PD). Deep brain stimulation, a common neurosurgical intervention that allows effective treatment of motor symptoms, often results in cognitive deterioration, highlighting the need for new DBS paradigms that are capable of treating both motor and cognitive symptoms. A new article in Brain Stimulation from CNSR members Kia Shahlaie and Gene Gurkoff shows a new stimulation paradigm may be effective at treating cognitive dysfunction in PD.
In the paper, Shahlaie and colleagues used a novel stimulation paradigm, theta frequency DBS. Unlike conventional DBS approaches, which use square electric pulses to stimulate deep brain regions affected by the disease, theta frequency DBS uses a slow electrical oscillation in the theta range (4-8Hz, or cycles per second). The results showed that 5 Hz, but not 130 Hz, stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus improved control, potentially by restoring task specific oscillatory activity.