Objective: In this study, we first designed the long-term implantable cortical electrical stimulation (CES) module in a rat model of Parkinson’s disease (PD). With the help of this model, the therapeutic effects of long-term CES intervention were examined from motor behaviors and electrophysiological findings in advanced PD rats.

Background: PD is the second most common age-related neurodegenerative disorder. Although pharmaceutical agents have been quite successful in the management of PD, the symptom relief is often incomplete, and chronic drug therapy is often limited by side-effects. Thus, new therapeutic and alternative strategies are clearly needed for PD.         CES has been developed for modulating cortical excitability through plasticity-like mechanisms which are considered having therapeutic potentials for PD. However, the therapeutic values of such approach for PD are still uncertain. Accordingly, an animal model of PD may be useful to clarify the existence of treatment effect and explore an effective therapeutic strategy using CES protocols.

Methods: A hemiparkinsonian rat model, generated by unilateral injection of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) into the medial forebrain bundle, was applied to evaluate the long-term treatment of CES-intermittent theta burst stimulation (CES-iTBS) in the motor behaviors and motor cortical plasticity. The detailed functional behavior investigations including gait pattern and apomorphine-induced rotational analysis were assessed up to four weeks after daily administration of CES-iTBS over the motor cortex in chronic PD rats.

Results: In comparison with sham-CES treated PD rats, long-term CES-iTBS treatment progressively improved locomotor function but failed to reduce the rotational behavior over a 4-week observation. Furthermore, the amount of motor cortical plasticity induced by CES-iTBS were impaired in sham treated PD rats but relatively normal in CES treated PD rats.

Conclusions: We showed that the locomotor dysfunction and impaired motor plasticity can be improved after long-term CES-iTBS treatment. The developed CES animal treatment model may serve as a translational platform bridging human and animal research for developing therapeutic strategies of CES for PD or other neurological disorders.

References: Hsieh TH, Huang YZ, Chen JJJ, Rotenberg A, Chiang YH, Chang Chien WS, Chang V, Wang JY, Peng CW. Novel use of theta burst cortical electrical stimulation for modulating motor plasticity in rats. Journal of Medical and Biological Engineering. 35(1): 62-68, 2015

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-therapeutic-effects-of-cortical-electrical-stimulation-in-an-animal-model-of-parkinsons-disease/