Involuntary movements have been classified primarily on descriptive basis. The use of physiological criteria for the classification and study of patients with movement disorders has lead to new insights onto pathophysiology and treatment of these disorders. We continue our efforts to characterize the physiological mechanisms responsible for positive and negative myoclonus. We have expanded the physiological features of the opsoclonus-myoclonus syndrome. The myoclonus in patients with Gaucher's disease has been studied physiologically. We have studied physiologically patients with epilepsia partialis continua (EPC) and these findings have been correlated with PET studies these same patients. Using EEG dsynchronization to voluntary movements and sensory evoked potentials, we have identified differences in the patterns of cortical activation in patients with hand dystonia. These findings support findings from parallel PET and transcranial magnetic stimulation studies. In some patients with tic disorders, we have found patterns of cortical activation similar to those accompanying normal voluntary movements. We have found abnormalities of spinal cord mechanisms for vibratory inhibition of the H-reflex in patients with stiff-man syndrome (SMS) which implicates a dysfunction of GABAergic spinal cord mechanisms. Patients with hereditary hyperekplexia, a genetic disorder affecting glycine receptors, show abnormalities in reflex pathways thought to be mediated by glycinergic Ia interneurons. Oligosynaptic spinal cord reflexes including vibratory inhibition, flexor reflexes and cutaneous silent period in patients with severe dystonia before and after intrathecal baclofen are being studied. The physiological properties of tremor to various inertial loads and during writing were studied in patients with writing tremor before treatment with botulinum toxin.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Intramural Research (Z01)
Project #
1Z01NS002667-12
Application #
5203921
Study Section
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
Budget End
Support Year
12
Fiscal Year
1995
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
City
State
Country
United States
Zip Code
Vanbellingen, T; Lungu, C; Lopez, G et al. (2012) Short and valid assessment of apraxia in Parkinson's disease. Parkinsonism Relat Disord 18:348-50
Zhuang, P; Hallett, M; Zhang, X et al. (2009) Neuronal activity in the globus pallidus internus in patients with tics. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 80:1075-81
Nahab, Fatta B; Hattori, Noriaki; Saad, Ziad S et al. (2009) Contagious yawning and the frontal lobe: an fMRI study. Hum Brain Mapp 30:1744-51
Bohlhalter, S; Hattori, N; Wheaton, L et al. (2009) Gesture subtype-dependent left lateralization of praxis planning: an event-related fMRI study. Cereb Cortex 19:1256-62
Wheaton, Lewis A; Bohlhalter, Stephan; Nolte, Guido et al. (2008) Cortico-cortical networks in patients with ideomotor apraxia as revealed by EEG coherence analysis. Neurosci Lett 433:87-92
Lerner, Alicja; Bagic, Anto; Hanakawa, Takashi et al. (2008) Involvement of Insula and Cingulate Cortices in Control and Suppression of Natural Urges. Cereb Cortex :
Buxbaum, Laurel J; Haaland, Kathleen Y; Hallett, Mark et al. (2008) Treatment of limb apraxia: moving forward to improved action. Am J Phys Med Rehabil 87:149-61
Nahab, Fatta B; Peckham, Elizabeth; Hallett, Mark (2007) Essential tremor, deceptively simple.... Pract Neurol 7:222-33
Wheaton, Lewis A; Hallett, Mark (2007) Ideomotor apraxia: a review. J Neurol Sci 260:1-10
Lerner, A; Bagic, A; Boudreau, E A et al. (2007) Neuroimaging of neuronal circuits involved in tic generation in patients with Tourette syndrome. Neurology 68:1979-87

Showing the most recent 10 out of 41 publications