Circuits and Circuit Disorders: Approaches to Neuromodulation

Abstract

TheAmericanNeurologicalAssociation (ANA)willhost thesatellite symposium“CircuitsandCircuitDisorders:Approaches to Neuromodulation”onSaturdayevening,September26,2015, in Chicago, Illinois, the evening before the start of the regular scientific program. The symposium is cosponsored by theAnnals of Neurology and JAMANeurology andwill be cochaired by the respectiveeditors,CliffordSaper,MD,PhD,andRogerN.Rosenberg,MD.Wearepleasedwiththisnewrelationshipandlookforwardinfutureyearstodevelopingeducationalprogramswiththe ANA, theAnnals of Neurology, and JAMANeurology. The program features Mahlon DeLong, MD, Emory University, 2014Lasker-DeBakeyClinicalMedicalResearchAward recipient, for his research in developing deep brain stimulation (DBS); Philip Starr,MD, PhD,University of California, San Francisco; Jonathan Mink, MD, PhD, University of Rochester Medical Center; Helen Mayberg, MD, Emory University; and Bryan L. Roth, PhD, University of North Carolina. The scientific program for the symposium represents a comprehensive review of DBS for Parkinson disease since its inception anddevelopment byDrDeLong andhis colleagues, followedbycomprehensivepresentationsof thedystonias,Tourette syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, and chemogenetics using designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADDs). DrDeLongwill review the concepts of circuits, circuit disorders, and associated neurological signs and symptoms. He will emphasize that the introduction of high-frequency DBS more than 2 decades ago, first for tremor and then for Parkinson disease, has led to a renaissance in functional stereotaxic surgery for movement disorders as well as for a wide variety of other neurological and psychiatric disorders. Dr DeLong maintains thatDBS isnotdisease specificbut rather circuit specific, since the same target may be used to treat a variety of movement disorders.1,2 DrStarrwillpresenthisworkoncircuitmechanismsofdystonia using combined cortical and basal ganglia recordings in humansundergoingDBS.Hewill presenthis findings that support the view that generalized dystonia and Parkinson diseasemay have physiologic overlapwith respect tomotor cortex synchronization and resting-state activity. Dr Mink’s presentation will focus on the results of recent studiesofDBS inTourettesyndromeandobsessive-compulsive disorder, current controversies, andemergingdirections,while DrMaybergwilldiscussDBSasanemergingexperimental treatment strategy for patientswith intractablemajor depression. DrRothwill summarizeDREADDs, the chemogeneticplatform thatprovides remote control of neuronal activity in a cell type–specific and noninvasive manner. He will then highlight applications of this technology as a therapeutic approach for a variety of neurological disorders and how chemogenetic technologies induce the sequential multimodal control of neurons in freely moving animals. JAMA Neurology welcomes manuscripts submitted to us on these subjects by May 1, 2015, so that they can be peer reviewed in the standard manner and be published as an OnlineFirst articleduring the samemonthas the symposiumand subsequently in print as a Theme Issue on “Circuits and Circuit Disorders: Approaches to Neuromodulation.” RegistrationfortheANAmeetingandahotel reservationcan be obtained by going to http://myana.org/events/ana-2015 -annual-meeting. This symposium is the prologue to an excellent scientific programof the 140thAnnualMeetingof theANA.Wehopeyou will begin this outstanding educational opportunity provided by the ANA by attending this symposium and experiencing a first-rate scientific discussion on neuromodulation and the anticipated future developments in this dynamic and rapidly emerging field of neurology.