Both animal studies and studies using deep brain stimulation in humans have demonstrated the involvement of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) in motivational and emotional processes; however, participation of this nucleus in processing human emotion has not been investigated directly at the single-neuron level. We analyzed the relationship between the neuronal firing from intraoperative microrecordings from the STN during affective picture presentation in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and the affective ratings of emotional valence and arousal performed subsequently. We observed that 17% of neurons responded to emotional valence and arousal of visual stimuli according to individual ratings. The activity of some neurons was related to emotional valence, whereas different neurons responded to arousal. In addition, 14% of neurons responded to visual stimuli. Our results suggest the existence of neurons involved in processing or transmission of visual and emotional information in the human STN, and provide evidence of separate processing of the affective dimensions of valence and arousal at the level of single neurons as well.

• MeSH
• arousal * MeSH
• emoce * MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• neurony fyziologie   MeSH
• nucleus subthalamicus fyziologie   MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH

The oculomotor role of the basal ganglia has been supported by extensive evidence, although their role in scanning eye movements is poorly understood. Nineteen Parkinsońs disease patients, which underwent implantation of deep brain stimulation electrodes, were investigated with simultaneous intraoperative microelectrode recordings and single channel electrooculography in a scanning eye movement task by viewing a series of colored pictures selected from the International Affective Picture System. Four patients additionally underwent a visually guided saccade task. Microelectrode recordings were analyzed selectively from the subthalamic nucleus, substantia nigra pars reticulata and from the globus pallidus by the WaveClus program which allowed for detection and sorting of individual neurons. The relationship between neuronal firing rate and eye movements was studied by crosscorrelation analysis. Out of 183 neurons that were detected, 130 were found in the subthalamic nucleus, 30 in the substantia nigra and 23 in the globus pallidus. Twenty percent of the neurons in each of these structures showed eye movement-related activity. Neurons related to scanning eye movements were mostly unrelated to the visually guided saccades. We conclude that a relatively large number of basal ganglia neurons are involved in eye motion control. Surprisingly, neurons related to scanning eye movements differed from neurons activated during saccades suggesting functional specialization and segregation of both systems for eye movement control.

• MeSH
• antiparkinsonika terapeutické užití   MeSH
• bazální ganglia účinky léků   patofyziologie   MeSH
• čtení MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• globus pallidus účinky léků   patofyziologie   MeSH
• hluboká mozková stimulace MeSH
• implantované elektrody MeSH
• levodopa terapeutické užití   MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mapování mozku MeSH
• mikroelektrody MeSH
• neurony patologie   MeSH
• nucleus subthalamicus účinky léků   patofyziologie   MeSH
• Parkinsonova nemoc farmakoterapie   patofyziologie   MeSH
• pohyby očí * MeSH
• rozpoznávání obrazu MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• substantia nigra účinky léků   patofyziologie   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH