Implementation and preclinical testing of a closed-loop control system for deep brain stimulation

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) involves a procedure to implant a device that sends electrical signals to brain areas responsible for body movement. In recent years, DBS has emerged as a treatment for the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. However, the mechanisms of DBS are poorly understood, and patient treatment is inefficient due to the suboptimal programming of stimulus parameters. Current DBS systems operate in an 'open-loop' configuration with parameters empirically set for the remaining time of stimulation. Closed-loop DBS represents a new approach that has the potential to overcome current limitations by automatically adjusting stimulation parameters as required. The EU-funded DBScontrol project has developed computational models of the neural circuits in the brain during DBS to test novel algorithms for closed-loop treatment. The goal of the current feasibility phase is to demonstrate an implementation on a prototype device and carry out pre-clinical testing in animal models.