Tissue response to deep brain stimulation electrodes: a review of animal and neurohistopathological studies

Journal article : Review

Objective. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a neuromodulation therapy widely used to treat various neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions, with thousands of patients undergoing the procedure every year. However, despite the immense improvement in quality of life that most patients experience after surgery, many questions still remain surrounding various elements of DBS, including how the brain tissue responds to DBS electrodes and how that interaction may affect the therapy. Approach. In this review, we build off a previous neurohistopathological review to encompass studies up to present date. Main results. We identified 33 cases with 63 electrodes from patients with various disease pathologies and DBS targets. We supplemented the findings with animal studies. Significance. These studies can provide evidence where neurohistopathological studies have not been performed. They can also offer predictions to guide future neurohistopathological studies. Better understanding of the tissue response to DBS electrodes can contribute to improved clinical outcomes.

Authors: Zhao, DX; Green, AL; Purcell, EK

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Journal: Journal of Neural Engineering
• Volume: 23
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 011003
• Article number: 011003
• Publication date: 2026-02-23
• Acceptance date: 2025-07-31
• DOI: 10.1088/1741-2552/adf669
• EISSN: 1741-2552
• ISSN: 1741-2560
• Language: English
• Keywords: animal; neurohistopathological; computational; pathology; deep brain stimulation; tissue response
• Subtype: Review