Motor Network Physiology

Summary

The brain networks controlling movement are complex, involving multiple areas of the brain. Some neurological disorders, like Parkinson's disease (PD) and essential tremor (ET), cause abnormalities in these brain networks. Deep brain stimulation is a treatment that is used to treat these types of neurological diseases and is thought to help patients by modulating brain networks responsible for movement. Levodopa medication is also used to modulate this brain networks in patients with PD. The overall objective is to develop a unified theory of basal ganglia thalamocortical (BGTC) circuit dynamics that accounts for disease symptomatology, movement, and their inter-relationship. The underlying hypothesis, is that the rigidity and bradykinesia of PD are fundamentally related to excessive functional coupling across nodes in the BGTC motor circuit impeding effective information flow. In this research, the investigator will take advantage of the unique opportunity provided by awake deep brain stimulation surgery to learn more about how the brain functions in a diseased state and how deep brain stimulation changes these networks to make movement more normal. The investigator will simultaneously assess cortical and subcortical electrophysiology in relation to clinical symptoms and behavioral measures and in response to deep brain stimulation, cortical stimulation, and pharmacologic therapy in patients undergoing Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) implantation surgery.

Conditions

• Parkinson Disease
• Essential Tremor

Interventions

DRUG

Apomorphine Injectable Solution

Apomorphine injected for therapeutic relief

OTHER

Subcortical Stimulation

Subcortical simulation of the deep brain stimulation surgery target site will be applied by clinically placed deep brain stimulation electrodes at the previously determined therapeutic setting

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of California, Los Angeles

  collaborator OTHER

• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

  collaborator NIH

• University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Nader Pouratian, MD, PhD · University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

89 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-02-18

Primary Completion

2027-12-01

Completion

2028-12-01

Countries

• United States

Study Locations