Unilateral Striatal Deep Brain Stimulation Improves Cognitive Control

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatric Disorders
• Medical Devices

Background:

• Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the ventral capsule/ventral striatum (VCVS) treats psychiatric conditions like OCD by enhancing cognitive control.
• Optimizing DBS efficacy is challenging due to incomplete understanding of stimulation parameters and target effects.
• Human studies suggest right-unilateral VCVS DBS is most effective, but preclinical models haven't fully explored laterality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate laterality effects in a rodent model of VCVS DBS for cognitive control.
• To compare the effects of bilateral, left-unilateral, and right-unilateral mid-striatal stimulation on cognitive control.
• To determine if sex influences cognitive control improvement from stimulation.

Main Methods:

• Developed a rodent model of VCVS DBS focusing on cognitive control.
• Administered bilateral, left-unilateral, and right-unilateral mid-striatal stimulation.
• Utilized computational modeling to analyze the effects of stimulation on decision-making variables.

Main Results:

• Both right and left-unilateral stimulation improved cognitive control by reducing response times without affecting accuracy.
• Computational modeling indicated that unilateral and bilateral stimulation modify the same decision-making variables.
• Females showed equivalent cognitive control improvement from stimulation compared to males.

Conclusions:

• Unilateral mid-striatal stimulation can be as effective as bilateral stimulation in enhancing cognitive control.
• The rodent model is a valid translational platform for studying VCVS DBS mechanisms, including laterality and sex effects.
• Findings support the potential for unilateral DBS to maximize therapeutic benefits while minimizing invasiveness and off-target effects.