Circuit Diagrams

Project Abstract Background/Description. Given our mutual interest in direct brain stimulation as an effective treatment for non-adherent eating disorders associated with refractory obesity, our multidisciplinary team at Stanford University has developed a collaboration with NeuroPace, Inc, a company that recently received FDA approval for a responsive neurostimulator. We previously found that electrically stimulating the nucleus accumbens (NAc) of mice attenuates binge-like eating.

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Stroke is a disease of epidemiological proportions in the industrialized world and a leading cause of long-term disabilities. One third of stroke patients maintain long-term motor deficits severe enough to be disabling, despite rehabilitative efforts. We have proposed dentate nucleus deep brain stimulation (DN-DBS) as a therapy to facilitate motor recovery for patients with chronic upper extremity hemiparesis due to ischemic stroke.

Abstract Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has a major role in the management of movement disorders, and is under investigation for the treatment of disorders of mood and memory. In Parkinson's disease (PD), DBS of basal ganglia nuclei can improve motor signs and reduce medication-induced motor fluctuations and dyskinesia, characterized by frequent transitions between a hypokinetic state (too little movement) and a hyperkinetic state (too much movement). However, since the introduction of DBS for PD 25 years ago, there have been no major improvements in this therapy.

Project Abstract This project is a pilot clinical trial of a new brain stimulation treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder. OCD is a mental illness that affects 4-7 million people in the US. Of those, 50-70% still have substantial symptoms after being treated with medication or talk therapy. Recently, clinicians have started trying to treat OCD with deep brain stimulation (DBS). DBS involves surgically placing electrodes into the brain, then sending electrical stimulation currents through those electrodes.

In patients with intractable Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), ventral striatum (VS) deep brain stimulation (DBS) effectively reduces symptom severity in about 60% of cases. However, there is room for improvement in both clinical benefits and reduction of DBS-induced behavioral side effects, especially hypomania. A critical factor may be failure to adaptively adjust DBS in response to phasic changes in negatively and positively valenced states (i.e., OCD-related distress and hypomania, respectively).

ABSTRACT It is easy to underestimate the importance of normal movement in daily life, until that ability is altered or taken away by disease. Used in more than 150,000 patients worldwide, deep brain stimulation (DBS) is often an effective therapy for Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders, however symptomatic improvement varies substantially in individuals, across clinical trials, and over time.

PROJECT SUMMARY Essential tremor (ET) is an incurable, degenerative brain disorder that results in increasingly debilitating tremor, and afflicts an estimated 7 million people in the US (2.2% of the population). While the economic impact of ET is indeterminate, it is surely quite substantial. In one study, 25% of ET patients were forced to change jobs or take early retirement because of tremor. ET is directly linked to progressive functional impairment, social embarrassment, and even depression.

Project Abstract This project is a pilot clinical trial of a new brain stimulation treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder. OCD is a mental illness that affects 4-7 million people in the US. Of those, 50-70% still have substantial symptoms after being treated with medication or talk therapy. Recently, clinicians have started trying to treat OCD with deep brain stimulation (DBS). DBS involves surgically placing electrodes into the brain, then sending electrical stimulation currents through those electrodes.

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We propose to combine whole brain 2-photon imaging of neural activity in behaving larval zebrafish with detailed anatomical and connectivity information extracted from the same animals. The final goal is to generate quantitative models of brain wide neural circuits that explain the dynamic processing of sensory information as well as the generation of motor output by these circuits. Anatomical data will be generated by two complementary technologies: 1) whole brain EM data sets will be prepared from the same fish that were used for calcium imaging.

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Perceptual decision-making involves multiple cognitive components and diverse brain regions. To perform a perceptual decision, an individual must process an incoming sensory percept, retain this information in short- term memory, and choose an appropriate motor action. Research using delayed-response tasks in nonhuman primates has revealed that sensory and choice information is distributed across a hierarchy of cortical areas, with task-relevant information flowing from sensory to association to motor regions.