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Quantifying muscle alterations in a Parkinson’s disease animal model using electromyographic biomarkers

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Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease currently diagnosed based on characteristic motor dysfunctions. The most common Parkinson’s disease animal model induces massive nigrostriatal degeneration by intracerebral infusion of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA). Motor deficits in rat models of Parkinson’s disease were previously addressed in other works. However, an accurate quantification of muscle function in freely moving PD-lesioned rats over time has not been described until now. In this work, we address the muscular activity characterization of a 6-OHDA-lesion model of PD along 6 weeks post-lesion based on spectral and morphological analysis of the signals. Using chronic implanted EMG electrodes in a hindlimb muscle of freely moving rats, we have evaluated the effect of the PD neurotoxic model in the muscular activity during locomotion. EMG signals obtained from animals with different time post-injury were analyzed. Power spectral densities were characterized by the mean and median frequency, and the EMG burst stationarity was previously verified for all animals. Our results show that as the time post-lesion increases both frequency parameters decrease. Probability distribution function analysis was also performed. The results suggest that contractile dynamics of the biceps femoris muscle change with time post-lesion. We have also demonstrated here the usefulness of frequency parameters as biomarkers for monitoring the muscular function changes that could be used for early detection of motor dysfunction.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Consejo de Investigaciones de la Universidad Nacional de Tucumán (CIUNT), and Institutional fundings from Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas (INSIBIO).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Investigaciones en Neurociencias Y Tecnologías Aplicadas (LINTEC), Departamento de Bioingeniería, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Y Tecnología, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Av. Independencia 1800, (4000) San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina

    Pablo Y. Teruya, Fernando D. Farfán, Álvaro G. Pizá, Jorge H. Soletta, Facundo A. Lucianna & Ana L. Albarracín

  2. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas (INSIBIO), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas Y Técnicas (CONICET), San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina

    Fernando D. Farfán, Álvaro G. Pizá, Jorge H. Soletta, Facundo A. Lucianna & Ana L. Albarracín

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  1. Pablo Y. Teruya
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  2. Fernando D. Farfán
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  3. Álvaro G. Pizá
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  5. Facundo A. Lucianna
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  6. Ana L. Albarracín
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Contributions

Experiments were performed by Teruya PY, Pizá AG, and Albarracin AL. Collection and pre-processing of the data: Pizá AG, Lucianna FA, and Soletta JH. Data processing, figures, tables, and statistics: Farfán FD. First draft of the manuscript: Albarracin AL and Farfán FD. Final manuscript, editing, and review: Albarracin AL. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ana L. Albarracín.

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Pablo Y. Teruya and Fernando D. Farfán Equal contribution

Highlights

• Motor function evaluation is crucial for Parkinson’s disease treatments development

• Muscle alterations of freely moving 6-OHDA-lesioned rats have been quantified

• EMG signals spectral contents progressively changes with the time post-lesion

• Spectral frequencies parameters are suitable and competent estimators of muscle function

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Teruya, P.Y., Farfán, F.D., Pizá, Á.G. et al. Quantifying muscle alterations in a Parkinson’s disease animal model using electromyographic biomarkers. Med Biol Eng Comput 59, 1735–1749 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-021-02400-3

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