Pathophysiology of freezing of gait and some possible treatments for it

Freezing of gait (FOG) is a disabling symptom of Parkinson’s disease (PD). In this study, we used the model of PD gait behavior for comparing normal and PD persons in order to simulate FOG and find its pathophysiology and probable treatments. We observed in the adapted model that the dopaminergic weights were reduced and the amount of dopaminergic bias was increased. These findings show that the aggravation of the disease and severe resistance of neurons to dopamine agonists may be the main cause of the FOG. Based on our model three therapeutic strategies may be proposed: decreasing the cortex signal to basal ganglia, using high dose glutamate antagonist, and using less glutamate antagonist with some amounts of gabapentin.