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A neural model of basal ganglia-thalamocortical relations in normal and parkinsonian movement

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Abstract

Anatomical, neurophysiological, and neurochemical evidence supports the notion of parallel basal ganglia-thalamocortical motor systems. We developed a neural network model for the functioning of these systems during normal and parkinsonian movement. Parkinson's disease (PD), which results predominantly from nigrostriatal pathway damage, is used as a window to examine basal ganglia function. Simulations of dopamine depletion produce motor impairments consistent with motor deficits observed in PD that suggest the basal ganglia play a role in motor initiation and execution, and sequencing of motor programs. Stereotaxic lesions in the model's globus pallidus and subthalamic nucleus suggest that these lesions, although reducing some PD symptoms, may constrain the repertoire of available movements. It is proposed that paradoxical observations of basal ganglia responses reported in the literature may result from regional functional neuronal specialization, and the non-uniform distributions of neurochemicals in the basal ganglia. It is hypothesized that dopamine depletion produces smaller-than-normal pallidothalamic gating signals that prevent rescalability of these signals to control variable movement speed, and that in PD can produce smaller-than-normal movement amplitudes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Motor Control Laboratory, Arizona State University, 85287-0404, Tempe, AZ, USA

    José Luis Contreras-Vidal & George E. Stelmach

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  1. José Luis Contreras-Vidal
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  2. George E. Stelmach
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On leave from Monterrey Institute of Technology, Mexico

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Contreras-Vidal, J.L., Stelmach, G.E. A neural model of basal ganglia-thalamocortical relations in normal and parkinsonian movement. Biol. Cybern. 73, 467–476 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00201481

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00201481

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