Background:The cardinal features of Parkinson’s disease(PD)are bradykinesia,rigidity and rest tremor.Abnormal activity in the basal ganglia is predicted to underlie the mechanism of motor symptoms.This study aims to characterize properties of oscillatory activity in the basal ganglia and motor thalamus in patients with PD.Methods:Twenty-nine patients with PD who underwent bilateral or unilateral electrode implantation for subthalamic nucleus(STN)DBS(n=11),unilateral pallidotomy(n=9)and unilateral thalamotomy(n=9)were studied.Microelectrode recordings in the STN,globus pallidus internus(GPi)and ventral oral posterior/ventral intermediate of thalamus(Vop/Vim)were performed.Electromyography of the contralateral limbs was recorded.Single unit characteristics including interspike intervals were analyzed.Spectral and coherence analyses were assessed.Mean spontaneous firing rate(MSFR)of neurons was calculated.Analysis of variance and χ^(2) test were performed.Results:Of 76 STN neurons,39.5% were 4–6 Hz band oscillatory neurons and 28.9% were β frequency band(βFB)oscillatory neurons.The MSFR was 44.2±7.6 Hz.Of 62 GPi neurons,37.1% were 4–6 Hz band oscillatory neurons and 27.4% were βFB neurons.The MSFR was 80.9±9.6 Hz.Of 44 Vop neurons,65.9% were 4–6 Hz band oscillatory neurons and 9%were βFB neurons.The MSFR was 24.4±4.2 Hz.Of 30 Vim oscillatory neurons,70% were 4–6 Hz band oscillatory neurons and 13.3% were β FB neurons.The MSFR was 30.3±3.6 Hz.Further analysis indicated that proportion of βFB oscillatory neurons in STN and GPi was higher than that of similar neurons in the Vop and Vim(P<0.05).Conversely,the proportion of 4–6 Hz band oscillatory neurons and tremor related neurons in the Vim and Vop was higher than that of STN and GPi(P<0.05).The highest MSFR was for GPi oscillatory neurons whereas the lowest MSFR was for Vop oscillatory neurons(P<0.005).Conclusion:The alterations in neuronal activity in basal ganglia play a critical role in generation of parkinsonism.β oscillatory activity is mo
Background： Deep brain stimulation （DBS） has been a promising treatment for patients with refractory Tourette syndrome （TS） for more than a decade. Despite successful DBS treatment of TS in more than 100 patients worldwide, studies with a large patient sample and long-term follow-up assessments are still scarce. Accordingly, we investigated the clinical efficacy and safety of globus pallidus internus （GPi） DBS in the treatment of intractable TS in 24 patients with a 1-year follow-up assessment. Methods： Bilateral/unilateral GPi-DBS was performed in 24 patients with TS. We evaluated symptoms of tics and obsessive-compulsive disorder （OCD） through the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale （YGTSS） and Yale-Brown Obsessive-compulsive Scale （Y-BOCS）. We used the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised in China （WAIS-RC） to evaluate the safety of the treatment. We conducted follow-up assessments of all patients for at least 12 months （12-99 months）. Results： Symptoms of tics and OCD were significantly relieved at a 12-month follow-up assessment. The mean YGTSS score was 74.04 ± 11.52, 49.83 ± 10.91, 32.58 ± 7.97, and 31.21 ± 8.87 at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months, respectively. The mean YGTSS scores obtained at the follow-up assessments were significantly different from the baseline （P 〈 0.05）. The improvement in motor tics was superior to that in phonic tics. The mean Y-BOCS scores were 21.61 ± 4.97, 18 ± 4.58, 14.39 ± 3.99, and 13.78 ± 4.56 at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months, respectively （P 〈 0.05）. We observed a remarkable improvement in psychiatric comorbidities, such as OCD and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, after the procedure. WAIS-RC scores were comparable before and after the operation. There were no severe postoperative complications. Conclusion： GPi-DBS appears to comprehensively alleviate tic symptoms and psychiatric comorbidities in patients with TS, thus significantly improving patients＇ quality of life.
