The neural mechanisms of rigidity and dystonia in relation to the neural activity of the thalamic ventralis oralis (Vo) nucleus, where the pallidal (GP) projection is thought to be, are one of our research interests. At the previous IBAGS meetings wehave reported that the activity of the Vo area differed between rigid and tremor-dominant type of Parkinson's disease (PD). At that time we analyzed global background activity and concluded that it was lower in rigid-type PD than in tremor-dominant typePD. In the present study, activity of small spikes in the background activity recorded during the course of stereotactic selective thalamotomy was measured by an analyzer (PowerLab). It was revealed that the spontaneous activity of Vo in rigid-type PD was about 30% less than that in tremor-dominant type PD, with a statistically significant difference at p < 0.0087.
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