Responses of pallidal neurons to striatal stimulation in monkeys with MPTP-induced parkinsonism

Extracellular single unit activity was recorded from neurons of the internal (GPi) and external (GPe) pallidal segments, and from 'border cells' (Bor) which are part of the nucleus basalis, in 2 cynomolgus monkeys rendered parkinsonian by MPTP (1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine). Cell counts showed that at least 90% of the nigral neurons of the compacta-type were degenerated. Electrical stimulation was applied to 3 sites bilaterally in the striatum: one in the caudate nucleus and 2 in the putamen. The results were compared to those obtained in intact monkeys. In the parkinsonians, more neurons of the 3 types responded to ipsilateral stimulation. The difference was even greater for contralateral responses, except in the case of Bor neurons. Greater proportions of the 3 types of neurons also responded to 2 and 3 sites and showed convergent responses to both the caudate nucleus and the putamen. The magnitude of the responses was larger. These results are in accordance with the excessive and unselective responses of the same neurons to passive limb movement, obtained in the same animals and described previously. The electrical stimulation allowed more detailed analyses of the responses. The major change in the responses of GPi and Bor neurons was the more frequent and larger late inhibitions, whereas the excitations were larger in GPe neurons. Long lasting oscillatory responses occurred frequently in the parkinsonians, mainly in GPi, and at frequencies close to the tremor displayed by the animals. Responses beginning with early inhibition were displayed by neurons located in the center of the pallidal zone of influence of each striatal stimulation site, as in intact animals, but in the GPi of the parkinsonians they were less frequently curtailed by excitation. Moreover, in the parkinsonians, the zones of influence were larger in both GPi and GPe, mainly because of the expansion of their periphery, where responses began with excitation and had lower thresholds than in intact animals. The dopamine agonist apomorphine normalized the responses in the parkinsonians. Thus, both the temporal and spatial magnitudes of inhibitions and excitations are abnormal at the output of the basal ganglia in parkinsonism.