Central pain syndrome (CPS) is a debilitating condition that affects a large number of patients with a primary lesion or dysfunction in the CNS. Despite its discovery over a century ago, the pathophysiological processes underlying the development and maintenance of CPS are poorly understood. We recently demonstrated that activity in the posterior thalamus (PO) is tightly regulated by inhibitory inputs from zona incerta (ZI). Here we test the hypothesis that CPS is associated with abnormal inhibitory regulation of PO by ZI. We recorded single units from ZI and PO in animals with CPS resulting from spinal cord lesions. Consistent with our hypothesis, the spontaneous firing rate and somatosensory evoked responses of ZI neurons were lower in lesioned animals compared with sham-operated controls. In PO, neurons recorded from lesioned rats exhibited significantly higher spontaneous firing rates and greater responses to noxious and innocuous stimuli applied to the hindpaw and to the face. These changes were not associated with increased afferent drive from the spinal trigeminal nucleus or changes in the ventroposterior thalamus. Thus CPS can result from suppressed inputs from the inhibitory nucleus zona incerta to the posterior thalamus.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/jn.00152.2009 | DOI Listing |
Mov Disord Clin Pract
January 2025
Department of Neurosurgery, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Background: The globus pallidus internus (GPi) is the traditional evidence-based deep brain stimulation (DBS) target for treating dystonia. Although patients with isolated "primary" dystonia respond best to GPi-DBS, some are primary or secondary nonresponders (improvement <25%), showing variability in clinical response.
Objective: The aim was to survey current practices regarding alternative DBS targets for isolated dystonia patients with focus on nonresponders to GPi-DBS.
Front Neurol
December 2024
Nantong Fourth People's Hospital, Nantong, China.
Background: Essential tremor (ET) is one of the most prevalent neurodegenerative disorders, with surgery serving as the principal treatment option. This paper presents a bibliometric analysis of research in the field of ET surgery from 2004 to 2024, aiming to identify current research hotspots and inform future research directions.
Methods: This study employs CiteSpace to analyze publication trends, countries/institutions, authors, keywords, and co-cited references in ET surgery, using the Web of Science core database from 2004 to 2024 to delineate the research pathways.
Pflugers Arch
December 2024
Institute of Veterinary Physiology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
The glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonist semaglutide has revolutionized the treatment of obesity, with other gut hormone-based drugs lined up that show even greater weight-lowering ability in obese patients. Nevertheless, bariatric surgery remains the mainstay treatment for severe obesity and achieves unparalleled weight loss that generally stands the test of time. While their underlying mechanisms of action remain incompletely understood, it is clear that the common denominator between GLP-1R agonists and bariatric surgery is that they suppress food intake by targeting the brain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBr J Anaesth
January 2025
NMPA Key Laboratory for Research and Evaluation of Narcotic and Psychotropic Drugs, Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesiology, Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Anesthesia and Analgesia Application, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China; School of Life Sciences, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China. Electronic address:
Background: Surgery can induce severe neuroinflammation and negative emotional symptoms, such as anxiety-like behaviour. We studied whether reactive astrocytes in the zona incerta (ZI) mediate surgery-induced anxiety in mice.
Methods: Laparotomy under isoflurane 1.
NPJ Parkinsons Dis
November 2024
Department of Clinical Science, Neurosciences, Umeå University, Umea, Sweden.
To compare awake and asleep deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery for Essential Tremor (ET), we conducted this retrospective cohort study of patients consecutively operated with DBS targeting the caudal Zona incerta (cZi). 37 underwent surgery awake and 55 asleep. Tremor before surgery and on/off stimulation one year after surgery were evaluated using the Essential Tremor Rating Scale (ETRS).
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