Desynchronization and Energy Efficiency of Gaussian Neurostimulation on Different Sites of the Basal Ganglia

Abstract

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been widely practiced for the treatment of advanced Parkinsons disease (PD) but the underlying mechanism is still not well understood. Subthalamic Nucleus (STN), Globus Pallidus externa (GPe) and Globus Pallidus interna (GPi) neurons are the common DBS target sites, which are selected based on the patients symptoms. The DBS pulse shape must also guarantee activation of the desired neurons and optimized energy consumption. In this paper, we apply energy efficient Gaussian DBS signals on different targets in a computational model of the basal ganglia. The results shows that Gaussian signals outperform the widely-used rectangular signals in terms of desynchronization of the GPi neurons and the total energy consumed by the DBS process. Our quantitative results suggest that targeting STN neurons for DBS (STN-DBS) is beneficial for PD patients with axial and cardinal symptoms, while dyskinesia is better treated by GPi-DBS, and improving bradykinesia and akinesia symptoms of PD is mostly achieved by GPe-DBS.