Connectionists: Parkinson's disease, dopamine, reciprocal inhibition, spinal cord, rigidity, neural model

[Vassilis Cutsuridis]

Dear connectionists,

The following article is now available at: 
http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/~vcu/papers/IJNS2007.pdf

Cutsuridis, V. (2007)
Does Abnormal Spinal Reciprocal Inhibition Lead to Co-contraction
of Antagonist Motor Units? A Modeling Study
International Journal of Neural Systems, 17(4): 319-327
 
ABSTRACT
It is suggested that co-contraction of antagonist motor units 
perhaps due to abnormal disynaptic Ia reciprocal inhibition is 
responsible for Parkinsonian rigidity. A neural model of Parkinson's 
disease bradykinesia is extended to incorporate the effects of spindle 
feedback on key cortical cells and examine the effects of dopamine depletion 
on spinal activities. Simulation results show that although reciprocal inhibition is
reduced in DA depleted case, it doesn't lead to co-contraction of antagonist 
motor neurons. Implications to Parkinsonian rigidity are discussed. 



KEYWORDS: Parkinson's disease, dopamine, reciprocal inhibition, spinal cord, 
rigidity, neural model

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