Tuning the brain so that it runs better
Far fetched title for this posting but not that far off the mark. It is just the start but Deep-brain stimulation is beginning to be used to alter, (adjust) adjust the neural activity in specific areas of the brain. First electrodes are implanted in the brain and then electrical pulses are used to excite or inhibit the activity of a specific neural circuit. Patients undergoing this type of treatment wear subcutaneous battery powered generators that deliver pulses to the implanted electrodes.
This is a treatment that is now being used for a variety of conditions. Forty years ago it was first used to alleviate intractable pain. It is now used for a wide range of conditions that include Parkinson’s disease, dystonia (a motor disorder that causes extreme twisting and repetitive motions), epilepsy, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The therapy is also being tried to teat depression, Alzheimer’s disease, addiction, and more. The target of the brain stimulation are neural circuits that are likely to be not functioning properly. This of course means that clinicians must have a good idea of the malfunctioning circuitry involved in a disorder that they would consider treating with deep brain stimulation.
While the clinical uses of this technique is growing rapidly it is also obvious that the clinical use of the method has all kinds of powerful research potential in allowing us to learn more about the brain. For example in the treatment of movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, researchers have found that stimulating activity in the basal ganglia and thalamic nuclei affects speech and language. It has also been successfully used to explore linguistic functions, such as grammar.
Here are just a few references providing more details about the clinical uses of deep brain stimulation and it use as a research tool
- H.S. Mayberg et al., “Deep brain stimulation for treatment-resistant depression,” Neuron, 45:651-60, 2005.
- D. Denys, M. Mantione, “Deep brain stimulation in obsessive-compulsive disorder,” Prog Brain Res, 175:419-27, 2009.
- L. Ackermans et al., “Double-blind clinical trial of thalamic stimulation in patients with Tourette syndrome,” Brain, 134:832-44, 2011.
- L. Phillips et al., “Subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation impacts language in early Parkinson’s disease,” PLOS ONE, 7:e42829, 2012.
- F. Klostermann et al., “Learning about language and speech from deep brain stimulation,” J Neurolinguistics, 25:63-73, 2012.
- C. Hamani, J.N. Nobrega, “Preclinical studies modeling deep brain stimulation for depression,” Biol Psychiatry, 72:916-23, 2012.