Skip to main content
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry logoLink to Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry
. 1998 Feb;64(2):273–276. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.64.2.273

Thalamic neuronal activity correlated with essential tremor

S Hua 1, F Lenz 1, T Zirh 1, S Reich 1, P Dougherty 1
PMCID: PMC2169953  PMID: 9489548

Abstract

Animal studies suggest that an olivocerebello-bulbospinal pathway mediates harmaline induced tremor, which resembles essential tremor in humans. However, recent evidence suggests that thalamocortical pathways participate in essential tremor. Thalamic single neuron activity has been analysed during thalamotomy for essential tremor. It has been shown by spectral cross correlation analysis that thalamic activity has a significant, linear relation to forearm EMG activity during tremor. The presence of this tremor related activity at the site where a lesion abolishes essential tremor suggests that the thalamus has an important role in the mechanism of essential tremor.



Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (105.4 KB).


Articles from Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES