Pallidal neuronal activity in multiple system atrophy type P and Parkinson's disease.

A substantial proportion of patients with multiple system atrophy (MSA) present with a clinical course dominated by rapidly advancing parkinsonism that is often poorly responsive to antiparkinsonian medication. There are indeed limited therapeutic options for patients with MSA, and previous reports from our center showed poor outcomes from unilateral posteroventral pallidotomies [ [1] Lang A.E. Lozano A. Duff J. et al. Medial pallidotomy in late-stage Parkinson's disease and striatonigral degeneration. Adv. Neurol. 1997; 74: 199-211 PubMed Google Scholar ], a proven neurosurgical approach for Parkinson's disease (PD). However, these operations allowed our team to compare neuronal activity (firing rates) of globus pallidus internus (GPi) neurons between patients with MSA (n = 3; 60.7 ± 37.7 Hz; mean ± standard deviation) and patients with PD (PD; n = 4; 81.6 ± 44.9 Hz) [ [2] Pereira L.C.M. Palter V.N. Lang A.E. et al. Neuronal activity in the globus pallidus of multiple system atrophy patients. Mov. Disord. 2004; 19: 1485-1492https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.20236 Crossref PubMed Scopus (7) Google Scholar ]. Such studies can facilitate the pathophysiological understanding of neurocircuit dysfunction and associated disease manifestations.