New study sheds light on the role neural activity and brain oscillations play in Parkinson’s disease

A new study published this week in BRAIN by Vishwanath, Bartlett, Falk, and Cowen (2024) sheds light on the role neural activity and brain oscillations play in Parkinson’s disease and in movement impairment associated with its treatment. Levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID) is a debilitating condition faced by most patients with Parkinson’s disease after about five years of treatment. This study investigated the patterns of single-neuron and neural oscillatory activity in motor cortex underlying LID. The study also investigated ketamine’s potential to eliminate pathological brain activity and reduce dyskinesia. Using advanced techniques, over 3,000 neurons were recorded from the motor cortex of rats with symptoms of LID. The study revealed that in LID, motor cortex becomes functionally disconnected from body movements. This decoupling brings into question the common notion that motor cortex directly triggers uncontrolled dyskinetic movements. It suggests instead that during LID the absence of motor cortex control of movement permits the spontaneous emergence of pathological movements from downstream circuits. Notably, ketamine eliminated neural oscillations associated with LID, reduced measures of LID, and partially restored the functional relationship between movement and neuronal activity. This study paves the way for further exploration of ketamine’s role in managing dyskinesia and suggests new avenues for treatment that target pathological neuronal interactions.

For more information, please contact Dr. Abhilasha Vishwanath (avishwanath@arizona.edu) and Dr. Stephen Cowen (scowen@arizona.edu).

Article Reference:

Vishwanath, A., Bartlett, M.J., Falk, T., Cowen, S.L., 2024. Decoupling of motor cortex to movement in Parkinson’s dyskinesia rescued by sub-anaesthetic ketamine. Brain awae386. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awae386