Improved Sequence Learning with Subthalamic Nucleus Deep Brain Stimulation: Evidence for Treatment-Specific Network Modulation

We used a network approach to study the effects of anti-parkinsonian treatment on motor sequence learning in humans. Eight Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with bilateral subthalamic nucleus (STN) deep brain stimulation underwent H-2 O-15 positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to measure regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) while they performed kinematically matched sequence learning and movement tasks at baseline and during stimulation. Network analysis revealed a significant learning-related spatial covariance pattern characterized by consistent increases in subject expression during stimulation (p = 0.008, permutation test). The network was associated with increased activity in the lateral cerebellum, dorsal premotor cortex, and parahippocampal gyrus, with covarying reductions in the supplementary motor area (SMA) and orbitofrontal cortex. Stimulation-mediated increases in network activity correlated with concurrent improvement in learning performance (p < 0.02). To determine whether similar changes occurred during dopaminergic pharmacotherapy, we studied the subjects during an intravenous levodopa infusion titrated to achieve a motor response equivalent to stimulation. Despite consistent improvement in motor ratings during infusion, levodopa did not alter learning performance or network activity. Analysis of learning-related rCBF in network regions revealed improvement in baseline abnormalities with STN stimulation but not levodopa. These effects were most pronounced in the SMA. In this region, a consistent rCBF response to stimulation was observed across subjects and trials (p = 0.01), although the levodopa response was not significant. These findings link the cognitive treatment response in PD to changes in the activity of a specific cerebello-premotor cortical network. Selective modulation of overactive SMA-STN projection pathways may underlie the improvement in learning found with stimulation.