Mechanisms of gait restoration by mesencephalic stimulation in rat models of cortical and subcortical gait disorders (A02)

• Subject Area: Biological Psychiatry ; Molecular Biology and Physiology of Neurons and Glial Cells
• Term: from 2020 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 424778381

Gait disorders are common to various neurological conditions afflicting the basal ganglia-cortical network. We want to investigate the potential of deep brain stimulation in the mesencephalic locomotor region (MLR) in two lesional models of gait disorders in rats, affecting either the basal ganglia or cortical level: parkinsonian gait and hemiplegic gait after stroke to the sensorimotor cortex. We aim to identify the connectivity, microcircuitry, and functional relevance of specific cell types in the cuneiform nucleus in the MLR for therapeutic retuning of gait.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• Subproject of: TRR 295: Retuning dynamic motor network disorders using neuromodulation
• Major Instrumentation: Vicon motion capture system
• Instrumentation Group: 3490 Sonstige medizinische Registriergeräte und Zubehör
• Applicant Institution: shared FU Berlin and HU Berlin through:; Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Robert Blum; Professor Dr. Michael Schuhmann; Professor Dr. Jens Volkmann