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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Mar 2.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Neurol. 2019 Mar;15(3):148–160. doi: 10.1038/s41582-018-0128-2

Table 2. Proposed deep brain stimulation mechanisms.

Concept Example evidence for Example evidence against Refs
Direct inhibition of neural activity Somatic recordings from neurons close to the stimulating electrode

  • Antidromic and/or postsynaptic recordings from downstream or upstream nuclei

  • Computational modelling of deep brain stimulation biophysics

 133,134
Direct excitation of neural activity

  • Biophysics of axonal responses to electrical stimulation

  • Antidromic and/or postsynaptic recordings

 Stimulation-induced action potentials intermittently or inconsistently generate postsynaptic responses 135,136
Information lesion (jamming)

  • Extension of the ‘excitation mechanism’

  • Disruption of low-frequency oscillatory patterns

 Network interactions remain intact for high-frequency signals 20,21
Synaptic filtering

  • Extension of the ‘excitation mechanism’

  • Biophysics of high-frequency synaptic transmission

 Limited understanding of chronic high-frequency driving of synapses 137,17