Researchers have identified a site in the brain linked to a medical condition known as essential tremor, potentially paving the way for new methods to treat it.
Essential tremor, which affects 4 percent of adults and 20 percent of elderly people, has no clearly understood trigger, Pan Ming-kai (潘明楷), an associate professor in National Taiwan University’s Department and Graduate Institute of Pharmacology, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
Using photonics and maths, researchers tuned into the brainwaves of people experiencing tremors, enabling the condition’s point of origin to be located, Pan said.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
The results show that a specific frequency can be observed in the brainwaves of people experiencing tremors for four to 12 seconds, he said.
The research suggests that the abnormal impulses that cause essential tremor stem entirely from the cerebellum and not the contiguous region between it and the cerebrum as formerly believed, he said.
Experiments by the research team indicate that optogenetics — a technology combining photonic stimulation and genetic science that manipulates organic tissue on a cellular level — can reduce the frequency of tremors in lab mice, Pan said.
Humans subconsciously use the cerebellum to coordinate motor functions, he said, adding that photonic stimulations can train that part of the brain to generate neural oscillations more steadily, helping to prevent tremors.
Although drinking coffee, smoking, and eating soy sauce and roasted meat have been linked to essential tremor, genetic sequence-based research into possible causes have yielded contradictory results in different nations, he said.
The two drugs approved by Taiwan’s health authorities are effective in no more than 50 percent of patients, Pan said.
Ultrasound or electrode-based procedures that stimulate or destroy parts of the brain can mitigate tremors, but the relief is temporary and fades after a few years, he said.
The research team is hopeful that the study would contribute to treating the condition and a US-based research institution has expressed interest in using its findings for electrode implant technology, Pan said.
The study received funding from the National Science and Technology Council and was published in the May issue of Science Translational Medicine.
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