Auditory oddball responses in the human subthalamic nucleus and substantia nigra pars reticulata

Neurobiol Dis. 2024 Jun 1:195:106490. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2024.106490. Epub 2024 Mar 30.

Abstract

The auditory oddball is a mainstay in research on attention, novelty, and sensory prediction. How this task engages subcortical structures like the subthalamic nucleus and substantia nigra pars reticulata is unclear. We administered an auditory OB task while recording single unit activity (35 units) and local field potentials (57 recordings) from the subthalamic nucleus and substantia nigra pars reticulata of 30 patients with Parkinson's disease undergoing deep brain stimulation surgery. We found tone modulated and oddball modulated units in both regions. Population activity differentiated oddball from standard trials from 200 ms to 1000 ms after the tone in both regions. In the substantia nigra, beta band activity in the local field potential was decreased following oddball tones. The oddball related activity we observe may underlie attention, sensory prediction, or surprise-induced motor suppression.

Keywords: Attention; DBS; Micro electrode recording; Novelty; Oddball; Parkinson's disease; SNr; STN; Surprise.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Acoustic Stimulation* / methods
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Auditory Perception / physiology
  • Deep Brain Stimulation* / methods
  • Evoked Potentials, Auditory / physiology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Parkinson Disease* / physiopathology
  • Parkinson Disease* / therapy
  • Pars Reticulata* / physiology
  • Substantia Nigra / physiology
  • Subthalamic Nucleus* / physiology