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Evidence from a rare case study for Hebbian-like changes in structural connectivity induced by long-term deep brain stimulation

Abstract:
It is unclear whether Hebbian-like learning occurs at the level of long-range white matter connections in humans, i.e., where measurable changes in structural connectivity (SC) are correlated with changes in functional connectivity. However, the behavioral changes observed after deep brain stimulation (DBS) suggest the existence of such Hebbian-like mechanisms occurring at the structural level with functional consequences. In this rare case study, we obtained the full network of white matter connections of one patient with Parkinson's disease (PD) before and after long-term DBS and combined it with a computational model of ongoing activity to investigate the effects of DBS-induced long-term structural changes. The results show that the long-term effects of DBS on resting-state functional connectivity is best obtained in the computational model by changing the structural weights from the subthalamic nucleus (STN) to the putamen and the thalamus in a Hebbian-like manner. Moreover, long-term DBS also significantly changed the SC towards normality in terms of model-based measures of segregation and integration of information processing, two key concepts of brain organization. This novel approach using computational models to model the effects of Hebbian-like changes in SC allowed us to causally identify the possible underlying neural mechanisms of long-term DBS using rare case study data. In time, this could help predict the efficacy of individual DBS targeting and identify novel DBS targets.
Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

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Publisher copy:
10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00167

Authors


More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Oxford college:
St Antony's College
Role:
Author


Publisher:
Frontiers Media SA
Journal:
Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience More from this journal
Volume:
9
Pages:
Article 167
Publication date:
2015-06-30
Acceptance date:
2015-06-15
DOI:
ISSN:
1662-5153
Pmid:
26175675


Language:
English
Keywords:
Pubs id:
pubs:527274
UUID:
uuid:dae598b6-827d-446b-beda-f0cfb502fc39
Local pid:
pubs:527274
Source identifiers:
527274
Deposit date:
2016-12-20

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