Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020;1(1):tgaa083.
doi: 10.1093/texcom/tgaa083. Epub 2020 Nov 4.

Subthalamic Nucleus Subregion Stimulation Modulates Inhibitory Control

Nelleke C van Wouwe  1   2 , Joseph S Neimat  1 , Wery P M van den Wildenberg  3   4 , Shelby B Hughes  2 , Alexander M Lopez  2 , Fenna T Phibbs  2 , Jeffrey D Schall  5 , William J Rodriguez  6 , Elise B Bradley  2 , Benoit M Dawant  6 , Scott A Wylie  1
Affiliations

Subthalamic Nucleus Subregion Stimulation Modulates Inhibitory Control

Nelleke C van Wouwe et al. Cereb Cortex Commun. 2020.

Abstract

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) often experience reductions in the proficiency to inhibit actions. The motor symptoms of PD can be effectively treated with deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN), a key structure in the frontal-striatal network that may be directly involved in regulating inhibitory control. However, the precise role of the STN in stopping control is unclear. The STN consists of functional subterritories linked to dissociable cortical networks, although the boundaries of the subregions are still under debate. We investigated whether stimulating the dorsal and ventral subregions of the STN would show dissociable effects on ability to stop. We studied 12 PD patients with STN DBS. Patients with two adjacent contacts positioned within the bounds of the dorsal and ventral STN completed two testing sessions (OFF medication) with low amplitude stimulation (0.4 mA) at either the dorsal or ventral contacts bilaterally, while performing the stop task. Ventral, but not dorsal, DBS improved stopping latencies. Go reactions were similar between dorsal and ventral DBS STN. Stimulation in the ventral, but not dorsal, subregion of the STN improved stopping speed, confirming the involvement of the STN in stopping control and supporting the STN functional subregions.

Keywords: Parkinson’s disease; deep brain stimulation; inhibitory action control; subthalamic nucleus.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Individual electrode positions in STN (green) used for dorsal (blue) and ventral (red) stimulation in sagittal (A) and coronal (B) planes and (C) average electrode position in coronal plane. Substantia nigra and thalamus are displayed for reference in orange and violet.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Medians, means (bold line), and 95% confidence intervals for Go RT (A) and SSRTs (B) separate for dorsal and ventral STN stimulation conditions and for the OFF stimulation group. Significant differences are indicated with an asterisk, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Accolla EA, Pollo C. 2019. Mood effects after deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease: an update. Front Neurol. 10:617. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alderson RM, Rapport MD, Kofler MJ. 2007. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and behavioral inhibition: a meta-analytic review of the stop-signal paradigm. J Abnorm Child Psychol. 35(5):745–758. - PubMed
    1. Alegre M, Lopez-Azcarate J, Obeso I, Wilkinson L, Rodriguez-Oroz MC, Valencia M, Garcia-Garcia D, Guridi J, Artieda J, Jahanshahi M, et al. 2013. The subthalamic nucleus is involved in successful inhibition in the stop-signal task: a local field potential study in Parkinson’s disease. Exp Neurol. 239:1–12. - PubMed
    1. Alkemade A, Schnitzler A, Forstmann BU. 2015. Topographic organization of the human and non-human primate subthalamic nucleus. Brain Struct Funct. 220(6):3075–3086. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Aron AR, Behrens TE, Smith S, Frank MJ, Poldrack RA. 2007. Triangulating a cognitive control network using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and functional MRI. J Neurosci. 27(14):3743–3752. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources