Neural oscillations
Can timing brain stimulation suppress Parkinson's beta waves?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
Timing electrical pulses to match specific points of a patient's abnormal brain waves can successfully dampen those waves.
Key findings
Delivering three to five consecutive electrical pulses at a highly specific, patient-customized phase of the beta wave reduced the wave's amplitude by up to 46.8 percent. This targeted stimulation also decreased the rhythmic firing of nearby populations of neurons by 18.7 percent after four consecutive pulses. Furthermore, suppressing local beta waves weakened the abnormal synchronization between the subthalamic nucleus and the cerebral cortex.
Methodology
Researchers recorded brain activity from eight Parkinson's disease patients during awake brain surgery while delivering low-amplitude electrical stimulation near the subthalamic nucleus. They delivered pulses that drifted naturally across the phases of the patients' abnormal beta-frequency brain waves. They measured how delivering multiple consecutive pulses at specific wave phases affected local brain wave size, neuron firing, and synchronization with the cortex.
Limitations
The study did not test whether suppressing these brain waves actually improves patients' physical movement symptoms, as no behavioral tasks were performed. The results are based on a small sample of eight patients under temporary intraoperative conditions that extended their surgery by 15 to 30 minutes, meaning the long-term effects of this stimulation are unknown. Additionally, because the electrical pulses drifted naturally rather than being actively tracked and locked in real-time, the researchers could only observe short bursts of phase-locked stimulation lasting between 50 and 300 milliseconds.
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