Synchrony of rest tremor in multiple limbs in Parkinson’s disease: evidence for multiple oscillators

1. J Neural Transm (Vienna). 2001;108(3):287-96. doi: 10.1007/s007020170074.

Synchrony of rest tremor in multiple limbs in parkinson’s disease: evidence for
multiple oscillators.

Ben-Pazi H(1), Bergman H, Goldberg JA, Giladi N, Hansel D, Reches A, Simon ES.

Author information:
(1)Department of Neurology, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel.

Recent evidence points to involvement of central nervous system oscillators in
Parkinson’s disease (PD) rest tremor. It remains unknown whether one or multiple
oscillators cause tremor in multiple limbs. Based on the prediction that
multiple oscillators would cause low coherence even with similar average
frequency, we studied 22 PD patients using accelerometers on multiple limbs.
Records were digitized and spectral analysis was performed. Peak frequencies in
the arms, legs, and chin were similar, indicating that biomechanical factors did
not determine the frequency. Coherence between different axes of individual
accelerometers and between different segments of the same limb was high.
However, coherence between tremor in different limbs was low. There was no
consistent pattern across patients of ipsi- vs. contralateral predominance of
coherence. These data suggest that tremor in PD is generated by multiple
oscillatory circuits, which operate on similar frequencies.

DOI: 10.1007/s007020170074
PMID: 11341480 [Indexed for MEDLINE]

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