Abstract
Parkinsonian tremor is most likely due to oscillatory neuronal activities of central oscillators such as the subthalamic nucleus (STN)-external segment of the globus pallidus (GPe) pacemaker within the basal ganglia (BG). Activity from the central oscillator is proposed to be transmitted via transcortical pathways to the periphery. A computational model of the BG is proposed for simulating the transmission of the STN oscillatory activity to the cortex, based closely on known anatomy and physiology of the BG. According to the results of the simulation, for transmission of the STN oscillatory activity to the cortex, the STN oscillatory activity has to be transmitted simultaneously to the thalamus via STN-internal segment of the globus pallidus (GPi)-thalamus and STN-GPe-GPi-thalamus pathways. This transmission is controlled by the various factors such as the phase between the STN and GPe oscillatory activities, the STN oscillatory activity frequency, the low-threshold calcium spike bursts of the thalamus and the GPi spontaneous activity.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bergman H, Deuschl G (2002) Pathophysiology of Parkinson’s disease: From clinical neurology to basic neuroscience and back. Mov Disord. 17: s28-s40.
Bergman H, Wichmann T, Karmon B, Delong MR (1994) The primate subthalamic nucleous: II. Neuronal activity in the MPTP model of parkinsonism. J. Neurophysiol. 72: 507-520.
Blandini F, Nappi G, Tassorelli C, Martignoni E (2000) Functional changes of the basal ganglia circuitry in Parkinson’s disease. Prog. Neurobiol. 62: 63-88.
Deuschl G, Raethjen J, Baron R, Lindemann M, Wilms H, Krack P (2000) The pathophysiology of parkinsonian tremor: A review. J. Neurol. 247: v/33-v/48.
Elble RG (1997) The pathophysiology of tremor. In: RL Watts and WC Koller, eds. Movement Disorders, McGraw Hill, New York, p. 405.
Filion M, Tremblay L (1991) Abnormal spontaneous activity of globus pallidus neurons in monkeys with MPTP-induced parkinsonism. Brain Res. 547: 142-151.
Gerstner W (1999) Spiking neurons. In: W Maass and CM Bishop, eds. Pulsed Neural Networks. pp. 3-53.
Gomez-Mancilla B, Latulippe JF, Boucher R, Bedard PJ (1992) Effect of ethosuximide on rest tremor in the MPTP monkey model. Mov Disord. 7: 137-141.
Humphries MD, Gurney KN (2001) A pulsed neural network model of bursting in the basal ganglia. Neural Networks 14: 845-863.
Hutchinson WD, Lozano AM, Tasker PR, Lang AE, Dostrovsky JO (1997) Identification and characterization of neurons with tremorfrequency activity in human globus pallidus. Exp. Brain Res. 113: 557-563.
Lamarre Y (1995) Central mechanisms of experimental tremor and their clinical relevance. In: LJ Findley and R Capildeo, eds. Handbook of Tremor Disorders, vol. 1. Marcel Dekker, New York, p. 103.
Llinas R (1984) Rebound excitation as the physiological basis for tremor: A biophysical study of the oscillatory properties of mammalian central neurons in vitro. In: LJ Findley and R Capildeo, eds. Movement Disorders, Tremor. Macmillian, London, pp. 339-351.
Magnin M, Morel A, Jeanmonod D (2000) Single-unit analysis of the pallidum, thalamus and subthalamic nucleus in parkinsonian patients. Neuroscience 96: 549-564.
McCormick DA, Pape HC (1990) Properties of a hyperpolarizationactivated cation current and its role in rhythmic oscillation in thalamic relay neurons. J. Physiol. (London) 431: 291-318.
Pare D, Curro Dossi R, Steriade M (1990) Neuronal basis of the parkinsonian resting tremor: A hypothesis and its implications for treatment. Neuroscience 35: 217-226.
Parent A, Hazrati LN (1995a) Functional anatomy of the basal ganglia. Part I: The cortico-basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical loop. Brain Res. Rev. 20: 91-127.
Parent A, Hazrati LN (1995b) Functional anatomy of the basal ganglia. Part II: The place of subthalamic nucleus and external pallidum in basal ganglia citcuitry. Brain Res. Rev. 20: 128-154.
Plenz D, Kitai ST (1999) A basal ganglia pacemaker formed by the subthalamic nucleus and external globus pallidus. Nature 400: 677-682.
Raz A, Vaadia E, Bergman H (2000) Firing patterns and correlations of spontaneous discharge of pallidal neurons in the normal and the tremulous 1-Methyl-4-Phenyl-1,2,3,6-Tetrahydropyridine Vervet model of parkinsonism. J. Neurosci. 20: 8559-8571.
Terman D, Rubin JE, Yew AC, Wilson CJ (2002) Activity patterns in a model for the subthalamopallidal network of the basal ganglia. J. Neurosci. 22: 2963-2976.
Wang XJ, Rinzel J, Rogawski MA (1991) A model of T-type calcium current and the low-threshold spike in thalamic neurons. J. Neurophysiol. 66: 839-850.
Wichmann T, DeLong MR (1996) Functional and pathophysiological models of the basal ganglia. Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. 6: 751-758.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Niktarash, A.H. Transmission of the Subthalamic Nucleus Oscillatory Activity to the Cortex: A Computational Approach. J Comput Neurosci 15, 223–232 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025816909270
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025816909270