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Placebo-responsive Parkinson patients show decreased activity in single neurons of subthalamic nucleus
Fabrizio Benedetti1, Luana Colloca, Elena Torre
1Department of Neuroscience, Clinical and Applied Physiology Program, University of Turin Medical School, Corso Raffaello 30, 10125 Turin, Italy. fabrizio.benedetti@unito.it
Abstract:
Placebo administration is known to affect the brain both in pain and in Parkinson disease. Here we show that placebo treatment caused reduced activity in single neurons in the subthalamic nucleus of placebo-responsive Parkinsonian patients. These changes in activity were tightly correlated with clinical improvement; no decrease in activity occurred when the clinical placebo response was absent.
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