Spinal Cord Stimulation Protects Against Parkinson's Symptoms

A team of researchers has revealed that long-term stimulation of the spinal cord with electrical signals helps in improving symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

In a study conducted on rodents, researchers at Duke Medicine discovered that spinal cord stimulation helps in temporarily easing the symptoms of Parkinson's disease, a progressive neurological disorder that occurs due to the degeneration of neurons.

"Finding novel treatments that address both the symptoms and progressive nature of Parkinson's disease is a major priority," said Miguel Nicolelis, M.D., Ph.D., professor of neurobiology at Duke University School of Medicine. "We need options that are safe, affordable, and effective and can last a long time. Spinal cord stimulation has the potential to do this for people with Parkinson's disease."

One in 500 people is affected with Parkinson's disease.  The disease affects people over the age of 60 years and is associated with death of dopamine-producing neurons. Dopamine is an important molecule in the brain that affects muscle control and movement.

This disorder affects the patients' movement and also affects the way they speak and write.

Currently, the drug L-dopa, is used to replace the dopamine in Parkinson's patient. Several people benefit with the use of L-dopa but the drug causes several side effects and also loses its effectiveness over time. Apart from this, a therapy used called the Deep Brain Stimulation has caused shown some effectiveness, but this treatment is applicable for less than 5 percent of the patients.

In the year 2009, Duke University researchers had developed a device for rodents that could send electrical stimulation to the dorsal column- a key sensory pathway present within the spinal cord that is responsible for transmitting information from the body to brain.

The device was fixed to the surface of the spinal cord in rodents that had low levels of dopamine. Researchers found that when they turned-on the device, the rodent's otherwise slow, stiff movements were replaced by active behavior.

In this study, the researchers focused at the long-term effects of the simulation device on rodents that displayed symptoms similar to that of Parkinson's disease.

For the study, electrical stimulation was applied to a specific location for six weeks in the dorsal column of rats' spinal cord. This 30 minute session was done twice a week. The researchers discovered an improvement in the motor skills of the rat. This stimulation was also linked with enhanced survival of neurons.

"This is still a limited number of cases, so studies like ours are important in examining the basic science behind the treatment and the potential mechanisms of why it is effective," said Nicolelis, study's senior author.

The finding was published in the journal Science.