Session Information
Date: Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Session Title: Physiology and Pathophysiology
Session Time: 1:15pm-2:45pm
Location: Les Muses, Level 3
Objective: This study investigated the fundamental mechanism how the repeated electrical stimulation (ES) affects the reduction of parkinsonian symptoms.
Background: The reduced parkinsonian symptoms by the repeated ES has been studied for clinical purposes, and its principal mechanism is believed to be the neural plasticity. However, it is elusive the physiological link from ES and the plasticity. Here, we examined the changes in the number of the glutamate receptors, which are closely related with the most dominant neurotransmitter in the brain.
Method: The animal model of Parkinson’s disease was developed by the injection of 6-OHDA in the medial forebrain bundle (mfb), and the models were evaluated by behavior tests. After confirming the models, ES was applied to the models as a bipolar and bilateral configuration, attaching the stimulating electrodes behind two ears. ES was designed as a series of multiple stimuli (up to 20 times), which had a 3-second duration, 100μA strength, and 60-second interval. After stimulated, the animal’s brain was removed for the immunochemistry in the vestibular nucleus (VN) and the thalamus to detect the glutamate receptors; AMPA and NMDA. The number of receptors were counted and compared with that from the normal animals.
Results: The numbers of AMPA decreased in both areas, 48.45% (from 741 to 382) and 15.27% (from 550 to 466) in the thalamus and the VN, respectively. On the other hand, those of NMDA increased by 5.32% (from 602 to 634) and 2.41% (from 497 to 509) in the thalamus and the VN, respectively.
Conclusion: Our results indicated the repeated ES changed the number of glutamate receptors. The alteration in the number of AMPA receptors was more apparent, and that was bigger in the thalamus than VN. Therefore, the plasticity by the repeated ES was initiated in the VN, and it expanded in the thalamus. [This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2016R1D1A1B03930657 & 2018R1A6A1A03025523).]
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
GT. Kim, N. Nguyen, KS. Kim. Neural plasticity based on the change of the glutamate receptors: Repetition of electrical stimulation for the reduction of Parkinsonian symptoms [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2019; 34 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/neural-plasticity-based-on-the-change-of-the-glutamate-receptors-repetition-of-electrical-stimulation-for-the-reduction-of-parkinsonian-symptoms/. Accessed June 15, 2025.« Back to 2019 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/neural-plasticity-based-on-the-change-of-the-glutamate-receptors-repetition-of-electrical-stimulation-for-the-reduction-of-parkinsonian-symptoms/