Investigating the Impact of Subthalamic Nucleus DBS Frequency on Motor Networks in Parkinson's Disease: An fMRI Study

Motivation: Limited information is available on the impact of different deep brain stimulation (DBS) frequencies on motor task-related brain activity in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with DBS implants in the subthalamic nucleus (STN). Goal(s): To investigate DBS frequency effects on brain activity during a motor task (force-tracking, FT). Approach: Using fMRI, we assessed FT-task-related brain activity in four PD patients with STN-DBS under three DBS conditions: off, high-frequency, and low-frequency. MDS-UPDRS-III scores measured motor impairment. Results: High-frequency DBS increased brain activation during FT and reduced MDS-UPDRS-III scores in PD patients compared to low-frequency DBS and DBS-off. Impact: These findings suggest that DBS in the STN has the potential to disrupt abnormal neural activations and restore the brain's capacity to generate and regulate normal patterns that are compromised in PD.