Tremor Reduction by Deep Brain Stimulation Is Associated With Gamma Power Suppression in Parkinson's Disease.

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ObjectivesRest tremor is a cardinal symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD), and is readily suppressed by deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN). The therapeutic effect of the latter on bradykinesia and rigidity has been associated with the suppression of exaggerated beta (13-30 Hz) band synchronization in the vicinity of the stimulating electrode, but there is no correlation between beta suppression and tremor amplitude. In the present study, we investigate whether tremor suppression is related to suppression of activities at other frequencies.Materials and methodsWe recorded hand tremor and contralateral local field potential (LFP) activity from DBS electrodes during stimulation of the STN in 15 hemispheres in 11 patients with PD. DBS was applied with increasing voltages starting at 0.5 V until tremor suppression was achieved or until 4.5 V was reached.ResultsTremor was reduced to 48.9% ± 10.9% of that without DBS once stimulation reached 2.5-3 V (t14 = -4.667, p ConclusionsOur findings support a relationship between low gamma oscillations and PD tremor, and reinforce the principle that the subthalamic LFP is a rich signal that may contain information about the severity of multiple different Parkinsonian features.

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