Mar. 21, 2009 About the only thing doctors have understood about
deep-brain stimulation, which is widely used to treat
Parkinson's disease symptoms, is that somehow it works for many
patients. In a new study that will be published March 20 in the
journal Science, Stanford University researchers used light to
illuminate how the treatment works, generating surprising
insights into the diseased circuitry and also suggesting new
ideas to improve Parkinson's therapy. Parkinson's disease is a
brain disorder that affects an estimated 1.5 million Americans,
causing tremors, stiffness and difficulty balancing. In those
who undergo deep-brain stimulation, pulses of electricity are
applied to the circuitry of a tiny brain region called the
subthalamic nucleus. Naturally, researchers suspected that cells
within that region are somehow stimulated, or calmed, by the
shocks, leading to reduced Parkinson's symptoms. In the new
study, which will also appear in an upcoming print issue of
Science, the medical and engineering re