Resting State Network alterations during Deep Brain Stimulation in Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundCurrent treatment strategies for Parkinson’s disease (PD) include medication and deep brain stimulation (DBS). While these treatment options are effective, their exact mechanisms remain elusive.ObjectivesWe aim at identifying alterations in whole-brain electrophysiological resting state networks (RSNs) due to DBS and medication with the objective to gain insights into neural correlates of DBS and medication.MethodsWe recorded 18 PD patients with DBS at rest in the magnetoencephalogram (MEG) in 4 conditions: medication off - stimulation off, medication off - stimulation on, medication on - stimulation off, and medication on - stimulation on. We derived RSNs and determined 4 consistent networks across conditions: visual, frontal auditory, and SMN (sensorimotor network).ResultIn the SMN, medication had a suppressing effect on functional connectivity. Surprisingly, we could not find a significant change due to DBS. Both medication and stimulation increased functional connectivity in the frontal network. In the auditory network, stimulation decreased functional connectivity while medication both decreased and increased functional connectivity in some parts of the network. Finally, medication and stimulation had opposing effects on the visual network: medication suppressed while DBS increased functional connectivity.ConclusionOverall, our findings reveal that DBS and medication have differential effects on various RSNs, which is relevant for understanding not only their complementary treatment effects but also the side effects.