Pathological basal ganglia activity in movement disorders

Our understanding of the pathophysiology of movement disorders and associated changes in basal ganglia activities has significantly changed during the last few decades. This process began with the development of detailed anatomical models of the basal ganglia, followed by studies of basal ganglia activity patterns in animal models of common movement disorders and electrophysiological recordings in movement disorder patients undergoing functional neurosurgical procedures. These investigations first resulted in an appreciation of global activity changes in the basal ganglia in parkinsonism and other disorders, and later in the detailed description of pathological basal ganglia activity patterns, specifically burst patterns and oscillatory synchronous discharge of basal ganglia neurons. In this review, we critically summarize our current knowledge of the pathological discharge patterns of basal ganglia neurons in Parkinson's disease, dystonia, and dyskinesias.This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Function and Dysfunction of the Basal Ganglia.

▶Movement disorders are associated with varying combinations of changes in discharge rate and oscillatory synchronized bursting activities. ▶The specific combination of these changes may determine the eventual behavioral disease manifestations. ▶The link(s) between basal ganglia firing abnormalities and movement disorder symptoms are not (yet) established.