July 11, 2018 13:14

Abstract

Speaker:
Dr. Terence D. Sanger, (MD PhD)
Provost Associate Professor, University of Southern California
Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Neurology, and Biokinesiology.
Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, Department of Neurology.

Title:
What dystonia tells us about the motor function of the basal ganglia

Abstract:
Dystonia is a disorder that distorts voluntary movements. Since there is no weakness, dystonia is fundamentally a failure of motor control. Therefore we can learn about both normal and abnormal biological motor control by understanding the mechanisms of failure and recovery from dystonia. In this lecture, I will present current models of basal ganglia and thalamus functional anatomy, including the way that the dynamics of movement can be represented and controlled. I will then show recent data from multi-electrode recordings in children with dystonia. The most salient feature of these data is the reversal of the normal function of basal ganglia: instead of normal inhibition of unwanted activity in thalamus, only the desired activity is inhibited while undesired activity is permitted. Therefore attempts at voluntary movement are met with muscle activation that is the opposite of the desired movement. Furthermore, lack of inhibition leads to very high gain in the thalamic feedback pathway which results in overdriven or oscillatory muscle activity. I will argue that the sign reversal in the output of basal ganglia is equivalent to a 180-degree phase shift in a feedback controller that leads to unrecoverable instability. Finally, I will show how deep-brain stimulation can be a partially effective treatment that works by reducing the feedback gain sufficiently that the phase shift no longer produces instability.

More Information

Date July 17, 2018 (Tue) 10:00 - 11:00
URL https://c5dc59ed978213830355fc8978.doorkeeper.jp/events/77265

Venue

2-2-2 Hikaridai Seika-cho, Soraku-gun, Kyoto 619-0288 Japan(Google Maps)