Subthalamic nucleus neuronal activity in Parkinson's disease and epilepsy subjects.

Activity from 113 subthalamic nucleus (STN) neurons from two epilepsy patients and 103 neurons from 9 Parkinson's disease (PD) patients undergoing DBS surgery showed no significant differences in frequencies (PD, mean 7.5+/-7.0 spikes/s (sps), epilepsy mean 7.8+/-8.5 sps) or in the coefficients of variation of mean discharge frequencies per 1s epochs. A striking relationship between mean discharge frequencies per 1 s epochs and the standard deviations for both groups were consistent with a random Poisson processes. These and similar findings call into question theories that posit increased STN activity is causal to parkinsonism.