My PD Story

Charting Brain Wave Changes to Help Treat Levodopa-induced Movement Symptoms 

The dopamine-replacement medication levodopa is used by a majority of people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) to help treat the hallmark movement disorder symptoms. While this routine treatment often provides quality-of-life improvement, continuous use of levodopa can lead to new movement symptoms called levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID).  

It is estimated that more than half of people who take levodopa for their PD symptoms develop LID, but the neurological reasons behind this phenomenon are still not well understood. 

Jeroen Habets, MD, PhD, and recipient of a Parkinson’s Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, seeks to identify brain wave “biomarkers” of LID, highlighting regions of the brain that go awry during LID and could be targeted by magnetic stimulation therapy to reduce or eliminate LID completely. 

The rhythmic patterns of neuron activation in the brain used to achieve tasks like movement, memory recall and much more can be observed and measured as brain waves. Different frequencies — the speed and intensity of the patterns — of brain waves are associated with different mental states and activities, such as the slow, calm delta waves of deep sleep or rapid, intense gamma waves of alertness and agitation. 

Using a machine called a magneto-encephalograph, Dr. Habets will take study participants with PD and visualize the brain wave activity that occurs during bouts of LID.  

By measuring each participant’s normal brain waves patterns and seeing how and where they change during LID, Dr. Habets hopes to find regions that could be targeted for treatment using non-invasive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which involves using guided magnetic waves to affect brain wave activity.  

Knowing what regions of the brain and which frequencies of brain waves are involved with LID could lead to personalized TMS treatments that alleviate those debilitating levodopa side effects. 

From the lab of Andrea Kühn, MD, at the Charité University Hospital in Berlin, Germany, Dr. Habets is eager to begin his proposed research with the support of the Parkinson’s Foundation fellowship.  

“This work will lead to a better understanding of how dyskinesia develops, and what happens in the upper layers of the brain when people suffer from involuntary dyskinetic movements,” said Dr. Habets. “Besides extending our fundamental knowledge, these findings will help to develop brain stimulation strategies to treat dyskinesia. Potentially, this work will extend our future therapeutic possibilities to help people with Parkinson's disease that suffer from dyskinesia.” 

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