据3月20日的《科学》杂志报道说，对啮齿类动物的新的研究表明，用电来刺激脊髓可能在某一天能够帮助治疗帕金森氏病的症状，并可能给该病的深部脑刺激提供一种替代的疗法，因为前者需要用到高度创伤性的手术方法。

Romulo Fuentes及其同僚是根据早先的发现来设计他们的研究的。在先前的研究中，他们发现，刺激外周神经系统（相对于脑来说）会减少癫痫样发作。 为了调查用类似的方法是否也可对帕金森氏病有效，他们用了一组植入性电极来刺激具有帕金森样症状的大鼠和小鼠的脊髓神经元。 在被刺激的时候，这些动物的运动变得更为频繁而且较少出现运动迟缓的现象 – 即，比刺激之前其表现更像一种正常的动物。 之所以会出现运动迟缓这种效应是因为帕金森氏病的运动神经元陷入一种神经元同步放电的故障状态。 这种电刺激可能是通过将这种放电过程进行去同步化而奏效，即，将关键性的脑区域转移到一种更适合于运动的状态。

目前，在帕金森氏病的早期，人们一般使用多巴胺替代药物来治疗损害的运动功能，尽管这种治疗的长期效果不佳。 脑深部电刺激是药物治疗的一个有用的补充治疗方式，但它要求将植入电极小心精确地放置在脑部的各区域。 如果未来的研究显示这种方法在人体中也是安全有效的话，那么在本研究中所描述的硬膜外手术可能会是一种受欢迎的备选治疗方法。

Science 20 March 2009:DOI: 10.1126/science.1164901

Spinal Cord Stimulation Restores Locomotion in Animal Models of Parkinson's Disease

Romulo Fuentes,1* Per Petersson,1,2* William B. Siesser,3 Marc G. Caron,1,3 Miguel A. L. Nicolelis1,4,5,6,7,8

Dopamine replacement therapy is useful for treating motor symptoms in the early phase of Parkinson's disease, but it is less effective in the long term. Electrical deep-brain stimulation is a valuable complement to pharmacological treatment but involves a highly invasive surgical procedure. We found that epidural electrical stimulation of the dorsal columns in the spinal cord restores locomotion in both acute pharmacologically induced dopamine-depleted mice and in chronic 6-hydroxydopamine–lesioned rats. The functional recovery was paralleled by a disruption of aberrant low-frequency synchronous corticostriatal oscillations, leading to the emergence of neuronal activity patterns that resemble the state normally preceding spontaneous initiation of locomotion. We propose that dorsal column stimulation might become an efficient and less invasive alternative for treatment of Parkinson's disease in the future.

1 Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
2 Department of Experimental Medical Science, Neuronano Research Center, Lund University, BMC F10, 221 84 Lund, Sweden.
3 Department of Cell Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
4 Center for Neuroengineering, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
5 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
6 Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
7 Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience of Natal (ELS-IINN), Natal RN 59066060, Brazil.
8 Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne 1015, Switzerland.