Menezes Chair in the Department of Neurosurgery, who cares for patients with Parkinson’s disease. Wessel partnered on the experiments with Jeremy Greenlee, professor and the Arnold H.

Parkinson’s disease patients are treated regularly with deep-brain stimulation, but the addition of transcranial magnetic stimulation allowed the researchers to confirm the subthalamic nucleus’ definitive role. They then tracked those changes to motor-control activity through a simple stop-action task, monitoring the brain-motor control responses through a technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation. These patients had implanted deep-brain stimulators, which the researchers used to activate or deactivate the subthalamic nucleus. First, they recruited 20 patients who have Parkinson’s disease, which affects motor control.

To do that, the researchers used some ingenious techniques. Previous research had indicated the subthalamic nucleus’ role in this stage of brain-motor control communication, but the hypothesis had not been directly tested in humans until now. “You can think of the subthalamic nucleus as the core region in this ‘halting’ of extra, unwanted components of compound movements, as it is the last relay station before the output nuclei of the basal ganglia, which then communicates these commands to the wider motor system,” says Jan Wessel, associate professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Iowa and the corresponding author on the study. The basal ganglia takes initial motor commands generated in the brain and either amplify or halt specific parts of those commands as they pass from the central nervous system to the spinal cord. The subthalamic nucleus is a tiny grouping of cells that is part of the basal ganglia, which is a key circuit in controlling movement. This communication is vital because it helps humans avoid surprises and react to potentially dangerous or unforeseen circumstances. In experiments with humans, the researchers pinpointed the subthalamic nucleus as the region in the brain that communicates with the motor system to help the body stop an action. The findings could yield advances in treatment for Parkinson’s disease, as declining motor coordination is a central symptom of the disorder. University of Iowa researchers have confirmed in a new study that a specific region in the brain is critical to governing the mind’s communication with the body’s motor control system. Summary: The subthalamic nucleus in the brain communicates with the motor system to help the body stop an action, researchers confirm.

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