MORE | Spring 2020

Deep Brain Stimulation

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Deep-brain-stimulation (DBS), which is a clinical intervention for Parkinson’s disease, research was done on development of a system which would use cerebral blood flow rates and their changes to optimize the efficacy of stimulation of the subthalamic nuclei (STN) and symptom treatment. In a rodent model, blood flow changes in both the cortical motor and sensorimotor cortex at differing stimulation times were evaluated against baseline. In initial testing, a significant change in average cerebral blood flow rate was seen at different testing times in DBS, with a return to initial levels after implantation in both testing regions.