Basal ganglia local field potentials: applications in the development of new deep brain stimulation devices for movement disorders

The analysis of neural rhythms measured in local field potentials (LFPs) through deep brain stimulation (DBS) electrodes have provided a new insight into brain mechanisms of information processing. The application of novel methodological approaches for LFP analysis is of key importance to uncover the complexity of such mechanisms, thereby clarifying the relationship between the LFP code and patient's clinical state. Thanks to a new device for recording artifact-free LFPs during high-frequency stimulation, DBS-induced neural rhythms modulations and their nonlinear features can be analyzed and used in the development of a new, adaptive DBS approach: the frequency, strength and site of DBS could be controlled, in a closed-loop system, through LFP-based variables obtained through the application of different methodological approaches.