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Subthalamic Nucleus Activity Influences Sensory and Motor Cortex during Force Transduction.
Ahmad Alhourani1, Anna Korzeniewska2, Thomas A Wozny3
1Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, USA.
Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)
|January 29, 2020
Summary
The subthalamic nucleus (STN) is involved in motor planning and sensory integration, not just movement pausing. STN-cortex interactions, especially with somatosensory areas, predict Parkinson's disease symptom severity.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Systems Neuroscience
- Motor Control
Background:
- The subthalamic nucleus (STN) has proposed roles in motor response pausing or scaling, with conflicting implications for deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy.
- Understanding STN's dynamic role in sensorimotor processing is crucial for optimizing DBS interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate event-related STN activity and subthalamic-cortical dynamics during a motor task.
- To elucidate the STN's contribution to motor planning, movement modulation, and somatosensory integration.
Main Methods:
- Electrocorticography (ECoG) of primary motor and somatosensory cortices during STN DBS implantation surgery.
- Phase-locking and event-related causality analyses were used to assess STN-cortical interactions in beta and gamma frequency bands.
Main Results:
- STN-cortical coherence was observed around force transduction in beta and gamma ranges.
- STN beta and gamma activity predicted motor cortical activity prior to and during movement onset.
- Bidirectional information flow between STN and somatosensory cortex was evident in beta and gamma frequencies.
- STN-somatosensory cortex beta interactions, not STN-motor cortex interactions, correlated with Parkinson's disease (PD) symptom severity.
Conclusions:
- The STN actively participates in motor planning and modulates ongoing movements.
- The STN plays a significant role in somatosensory integration.
- STN-somatosensory interactions are particularly relevant to PD symptom severity, highlighting a dynamic, multi-faceted role of the STN in sensorimotor behavior.
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