Dr. R.C.G. Helmich
Hersenstichting | Dutch Brain Foundation
The Netherlands
Why Parkinson's tremor has a variable dopaminergic response - cerebral differences between dopa-responsive and dopa-resistant tremor.
Hersenstichting | Dutch Brain Foundation
146,616
01/04/14
3.0
Parkinson's disease & PD-related disorders
Parkinson's disease | tremor | fMRI
Resting tremor is a core symptom of Parkinsons disease (PD). Unlike other motor symptoms, the response
of tremor to levodopa varies greatly between PD patients. The reason for this variability is unclear, preventing
treatment and development of new therapies. We showed that PD tremor arises from interactions between
the basal ganglia and the cerebello-thalamo-cortical circuit. Here we compare tremor-related activity in these
circuits between PD patients with dopa-responsive and dopa-resistant tremor, using MR spectroscopy and
combined EMG-fMRI, and testing both groups ON and OFF levodopa.