pipeline-for-planning-execution-transcranial-ultrasound

Pipeline for Planning and Execution of Transcranial Ultrasound Neuromodulation Experiments in Humans

Transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) is an emerging non-invasive neuromodulation technique capable of manipulating both cortical and subcortical ...

University of Calgary

Freezing of gait (FOG) in Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by the inability to initiate stepping, despite the intention to do so. This study used a startling acoustic stimulus paradigm to examine if the capacity to select, prepare and initiate gait under simple and choice reaction time conditions are impaired in people with PD and FOG.

Startle-induced rapid release of a gait initiation sequence in Parkinson's disease with freezing of gait.

Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial direct current stimulation hold promise for inducing brain plasticity. However, their limited precision may hamper certain applications. In contrast, Transcranial Ultrasound Stimulation (TUS), known for its precision and deep brain targeting capabilities, requires further investigation to establish its efficacy in producing enduring effects for treating neurological and psychiatric disorders.

The effect of transcranial ultrasound pulse repetition frequency on sustained inhibition in the human primary motor cortex: A double-blind, sham-controlled study.

People with Parkinson's disease often exhibit improvements in motor tasks when exposed to external sensory cues. While the effects of different types of sensory cues on motor functions in Parkinson's disease have been widely studied, the underlying neural mechanism of these effects and the potential of sensory cues to alter the motor cortical activity patterns and functional connectivity of cortical motor areas are still unclear. This study aims to compare changes in oxygenated haemoglobin, deoxygenated haemoglobin and correlations among different cortical regions of interest during wrist movement under different external stimulus conditions between people with Parkinson's disease and controls. Ten Parkinson's disease patients and 10 age- and sex-matched neurologically healthy individuals participated, performing repetitive wrist flexion and extension tasks under auditory and visual cues. Changes in oxygenated and deoxygenated haemoglobin in motor areas were measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, along with electromyograms from wrist muscles and wrist movement kinematics. The functional near-infrared spectroscopy data revealed significantly higher neural activity changes in the Parkinson's disease group's pre-motor area compared to controls (p = 0.006), and functional connectivity between the supplementary motor area and pre-motor area was also significantly higher in the Parkinson's disease group when external sensory cues were present (p = 0.016). These results indicate that external sensory cues' beneficial effects on motor tasks are linked to changes in the functional connectivity between motor areas responsible for planning and preparation of movements.

Article	Year
Startle-induced rapid release of a gait initiation sequence in Parkinson's disease with freezing of gait. Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology\| PubMed ID: 36608531	2023
The effect of transcranial ultrasound pulse repetition frequency on sustained inhibition in the human primary motor cortex: A double-blind, sham-controlled study. Brain stimulation\| PubMed ID: 38621645	2024
Connecting the dots: Sensory cueing enhances functional connectivity between pre-motor and supplementary motor areas in Parkinson's disease. The European journal of neuroscience\| PubMed ID: 38858176	2024

Ali K. Zadeh

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