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Title: Investigating The Electrical Stimulation Of Subthalamic Nucleus For The Treatment Of Cortical Stroke
e-poster Number: INSIM96
Category: Neurosurgery
Author Name: Zhengdao Deng
Institute: KU Leuven
Co-Author Name: Boateng Asamoah, Ugur Kilic, Myles Mc Laughlin, Bart Nuttin
Abstract :
Stroke remains a leading cause of long-term disability in developed countries and the second leading cause of death worldwide. Recent decades have witnessed substantial progress in understanding the pathophysiology of ischemic stroke and the treatment of stroke-related motor deficit. However, current therapies fail to offer patients satisfactory improvements. Therefore, a more effective approach for treating stroke-related motor deficit is still needed.
Here we investigated the effect of electrical stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (ES-STN) on motor deficit induced by photothrombotic lesion in the motor cortex (MC). We hypothesized that ES-STN can reduce motor deficit in stroke rats.
In our study, the sprague-dawley rat was included in this pilot study. He was trained with the single pellet reaching task (SFPRT) and determined the baseline performance. We then induced a photothrombotic ischemic lesion in the forelimb region of the MC. After stroke induction we implanted a stimulation electrode into the STN. 4 days after stroke we performed ES-STN while evaluating SFPRT performance. We performed 100 Hz stimulation where rat showed improved performance during stimulation. At 130 Hz rat showed even more improvement. We then performed histology to confirm that the stimulation electrode was in the STN.
Our pilot study indicates that ES-STN may be a promising approach for treating cortical stroke-related motor deficit. A larger scale study with more subjects is necessary to further investigate the effect of ES-STN on the motor deficit after cortical stroke.
