The PPN and motor control: Preclinical studies to deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease

Caixia Lin; Margreet C Ridder; Pankaj Sah

doi:10.3389/fncir.2023.1095441

The PPN and motor control: Preclinical studies to deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease

Front Neural Circuits. 2023 Feb 28:17:1095441. doi: 10.3389/fncir.2023.1095441. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Caixia Lin^{1

2}, Margreet C Ridder¹, Pankaj Sah^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia.
² Joint Centre for Neuroscience and Neural Engineering, and Department of Biology, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China.

Abstract

The pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) is the major part of the mesencephalic locomotor region, involved in the control of gait and locomotion. The PPN contains glutamatergic, cholinergic, and GABAergic neurons that all make local connections, but also have long-range ascending and descending connections. While initially thought of as a region only involved in gait and locomotion, recent evidence is showing that this structure also participates in decision-making to initiate movement. Clinically, the PPN has been used as a target for deep brain stimulation to manage freezing of gait in late Parkinson's disease. In this review, we will discuss current thinking on the role of the PPN in locomotor control. We will focus on the cytoarchitecture and functional connectivity of the PPN in relationship to motor control.

Keywords: basal ganglia; cholinergic; gait; motor control; movement.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Deep Brain Stimulation*
Gait Disorders, Neurologic*
Humans
Locomotion
Mesencephalon
Parkinson Disease* / therapy
Pedunculopontine Tegmental Nucleus*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia to PS.