Subthalamic nucleus single-unit activity in humans with Parkinson's Disease encodes both the rate of change and the magnitude of force during a sustained grip-force task

Subthalamic nucleus single-unit activity in humans with Parkinson's Disease encodes both the rate of change and the magnitude of force during a sustained grip-force task | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Subthalamic nucleus single-unit activity in humans with Parkinson's Disease encodes both the rate of change and the magnitude of force during a sustained grip-force task Harrison Walker, Joseph Olson, Shaikh Wahid, Zachary Irwin, Daniel Kuhman, and 5 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3838202/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted 9 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The subthalamic nucleus (STN) is a primary target for Parkinson's disease (PD) neuromodulation therapies, yet its role in sensorimotor neural circuits remains unclear. We investigated the neuronal activity in the dorsolateral STN during a visually cued isometric grip-force task in the contralateral hand in humans with PD who were undergoing deep brain stimulation surgery. We found significant force-related changes in STN unit activity, especially immediately after force onset and offset, but minimal changes during movement preparation. The most substantive changes in single-unit activity occurred with changes in grip force (15 of 21 units, 71%) rather than during sustained grip (12 of 21, 57%). During sustained force, the neuronal spike frequency positively correlated with force magnitude in seven units (33%), and the spike frequency during the applied force differed from baseline in nine (43%) units, all clustered in the dorsolateral STN. During a phase of the task when force changes, six units increased their spiking, while four units decreased their activity. Units with increases in activity discharged at a median of 56.5 (IQR: 25 to 156) ms after mechanical squeeze onset, whereas units with decreases preceded squeeze onset by 69.5 (23 to 79) ms. When force was released, five units increased their activity, while eight units decreased their activity, at latencies of 153.0 (84 to 260) ms and 58.0 (38 to 76) ms after release onset, respectively. Our findings suggest that neurons in the dorsolateral STN encode dynamic changes in force to a greater extent than sustained force magnitude and may play greater roles in sensory feedback and movement refinement rather than movement preparation. Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Motor control/Basal ganglia Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Diseases of the nervous system/Parkinson's disease Full Text Additional Declarations (Not answered) Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted Editorial decision: revise 12 Mar, 2024 Review # 2 received at journal 05 Mar, 2024 Reviewer # 2 agreed at journal 22 Feb, 2024 Review # 1 received at journal 21 Feb, 2024 Reviewer # 1 agreed at journal 11 Feb, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 19 Jan, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 14 Jan, 2024 Submission checks completed at journal 08 Jan, 2024 First submitted to journal 05 Jan, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-3838202","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":267991413,"identity":"aa59e0ba-3485-42ae-83b6-ce9620c3be38","order_by":0,"name":"Harrison 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