Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson's Disease Induces Spontaneous Cortical Hypersynchrony In Extended Motor and Cognitive Networks

Abstract

The mechanism of action of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for Parkinsons disease remains unclear. Studies have shown that DBS decreases pathological beta hypersynchrony between the basal ganglia and motor cortex. However, little is known about DBSs effects on long range corticocortical synchronization. Here, we use machine learning combined with spectral graph theory to compare resting-state cortical connectivity between the off and on-stimulation states and compare these differences to healthy controls. We found that turning DBS on increased high beta and gamma band coherence in a cortical circuit spanning the motor, occipitoparietal, middle temporal, and prefrontal cortices. We found no significant difference between DBS-off and controls in this network with multivariate pattern classification showing that the brain connectivity pattern in control subjects is more like those during DBS-off than DBS-on. These results show that therapeutic DBS increases spontaneous high beta-gamma synchrony in a network that couples motor areas to broader cognitive systems.