• Ilkay Sitti, Göksemin Acar, Athanasios K Zisakis, Mevci Özdemir, Feridun Acar, and Kim J Burchiel.
• Department of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, Pamukkale University, Denizli, Turkey.
• Stereotact Funct Neurosurg. 2016 Jan 1; 94 (1): 54-9.

BackgroundThe pedunculopontine nucleus has recently been proposed as an alternative target for deep brain stimulation for the treatment of medically intractable Parkinson's disease. The suggested indication for pedunculopontine nucleus deep brain stimulation is severe and medically intractable axial symptoms such as gait and postural impairment.ObjectiveOur goal in this study was to describe the effects of subthalamic nucleus stimulation on pedunculopontine nucleus electrophysiological activity.MethodsFourteen male Wistar rats were divided into a sham stimulation group and an experimental group. In both groups, electrodes were implanted bilaterally into the subthalamic nucleus and into the right pedunculopontine nucleus. Microelectrode recordings were carried out in both groups prior to and during subthalamic nucleus stimulation.ResultsSubthalamic nucleus stimulation produced no clear inhibition of neuronal firing in the pedunculopontine nucleus. However, we found that stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus at 60 Hz produces some entrainment of pedunculopontine nucleus neuronal firing and a shift of subthalamic nucleus firing patterns to more tonic and random patterns. These results are consistent with the effects of deep brain stimulation on neuronal activity in the subthalamic nucleus and globus pallidus internus.ConclusionThe result of this study provides additional evidence to improve our understanding of the mechanism of subthalamic nucleus-deep brain stimulation, and its physiological consequences.© 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

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