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65th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)

German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)

11 - 14 May 2014, Dresden

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Electric stimulation of the medial forebrain bundle is able to modulate prepulse inhibition. A pilot study in Alzheimer’s disease

Meeting Abstract

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  • Patricia Panther - Universitätsklinik für Stereotaktische Neurochirurgie, Otto-von Guericke-Universität, Magdeburg
  • M. Kühne - Universitätsklinik für Neurologie, Otto-von Guericke-Universität, Magdeburg
  • Sven Nullmeier - Institut für Anatomie, Otto-von Guericke-Universität, Magdeburg
  • HansJochen Heinze - Universitätsklinik für Neurologie, Otto-von Guericke-Universität, Magdeburg
  • Andreas Kupsch - Universitätsklinik für Stereotaktische Neurochirurgie, Otto-von Guericke-Universität, Magdeburg; Universitätsklinik für Neurologie, Otto-von Guericke-Universität, Magdeburg
  • Tino Zaehle - Universitätsklinik für Neurologie, Otto-von Guericke-Universität, Magdeburg
  • Jürgen Voges - Universitätsklinik für Stereotaktische Neurochirurgie, Otto-von Guericke-Universität, Magdeburg

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. 65. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (DGNC). Dresden, 11.-14.05.2014. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2014. DocMI.15.07

doi: 10.3205/14dgnc357, urn:nbn:de:0183-14dgnc3574

Published: May 13, 2014

© 2014 Panther et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

Text

Objective: Prepulse Inhibition (PPI) can be used as a measurement of sensorimotor gating. PPI is similarly detected in all mammals and therefore results are readily transferable from animal- to human studies. It is also known that dopamine influences PPI. Congruently PPI deficits are detected in disorders showing disturbances within the dopaminergic system like schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease. A target specific influence of deep brain stimulation (DBS) on PPI has been shown in animal models of schizophrenia. Conceivably stimulation of the medial forebrain bundle or of the ventral tegmental area could influence PPI via modulation of dopamine release.

Method: Three Patients with Alzheimer disease underwent DBS of the medial forebrain bundle (MFB) (age 72±2.5, duration of symptoms 5.2±0,7 years). PPI was tested under four conditions: no stimulation, 20 Hz, 60 Hz, 130 Hz and with an amplitude set below occurrence of side effects and a pulse width of 90 µs. Active contacts were selected using tractography of the MFB. Prepulse (85 dB) was given 30 ms, 60 ms and 100 ms before presentation of the pulse (103 db).

Results: All three patients of our pilot study showed a frequency dependent pattern of PPI with a reduction of PPI at DBS with 20 Hz and 130 Hz and an increase of PPI at DBS with 60 Hz compared to the results without stimulation.

Conclusions: PPI is frequency dependent modulated by electrical stimulation of the MFB, suggesting that sensorimotor gaiting can be influenced by deep brain stimulation in this area.