Mutual effect of the direct and indirect pathways on the basal ganglia network

Abstract

The main cause of Parkinson's disease is that the loss of dopamine makes the direct and indirect pathways of striatum lose their original balance, which eventually leads to abnormality of basal ganglia network. At the same time, various structures of the basal ganglia network show abnormal synchronous discharge. Thalamus also can't respond to cortex normally, making Parkinson's patients tremble abnormally. As the key structure of basal ganglia network, striatum has been always put much attention in the research. However, due to the complexity of the two pathways, a simplified method was always used in the research. Namely, The input of the striatum is set as a constant and the input current of the two pathways is analyzed individually. However, it's obvious that the simplified method can't truly reflect the influence of the two pathways on the basal ganglia network. In this paper, we will use the modified Hodgkin-Huxley model to simulate the influence of the direct path and the indirect path on the network. Corresponding parameters are adjusted in normal state. Then sensitivity characteristics of the two pathways on the network were observed by analyzing the relay ability of thalamus to the signals from the cerebral cortex, which will have much significance in diagnosis in Parkinson's disease.