Use of functional neuroimaging and optogenetics to explore deep brain stimulation targets for the treatment of Parkinson's disease and epilepsy

Subtitle:Gebruik van functionele beeldvorming en optogenetica voor de exploratie van doelwitten voor diepe hersenstimulatie bij de ziekte van Parkinson en epilepsie

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a neurosurgical therapy for ParkinsonU+2019s disease and epilepsy. In DBS, an electrode is stereotactically implanted in a specific region of the brain and electrical pulses are delivered using a subcutaneous pacemaker-like stimulator. DBS-therapy has proven to effectively suppress tremor or seizures in pharmaco-resistant ParkinsonU+2019s disease and epilepsy patients respectively. It is most commonly applied in the subthalamic nucleus for ParkinsonU+2019s disease, or in the anterior thalamic nucleus for epilepsy. Despite the rapidly growing use of DBS at these classic brain structures, there are still non-responders to the treatment. This creates a need to explore other brain structures as potential DBS-targets. However, research in patients is restricted mainly because of ethical reasons. Therefore, in order to search for potential new DBS targets, animal research is indispensable. Previous animal studies of DBS-relevant circuitry largely relied on electrophysiological recordings at predefined brain areas with assumed relevance to DBS therapy. Due to their inherent regional biases, such experimental techniques prevent the identification of less recognized brain structures that might be suitable DBS targets. Therefore, functional neuroimaging techniques, such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Positron Emission Tomography, were used in this thesis because they allow to visualize and to analyze the whole brain during DBS. Additionally, optogenetics, a new technique that uses light instead of electricity, was employed to manipulate brain cells with unprecedented selectivity.

ISBN:9789085788997

Publication year:2016

Accessibility:Open