Functional correlation between cerebellum and basal ganglia: A parkinsonism model

Introduction: The cerebellar response has been studied for years with different models of alteration of other brain structures to understand its complex functioning and its relationship with the rest of the body. Studies in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) showed that the cerebellar function is modified by deficit of the basal ganglia; which supports the hypothesis that both structures are related anatomically and functionally.

Methods: In our study, the ventrolateral striatum (VLS) of the basal ganglia was altered by an electrolytic lesion, in order to produce a similar jaw frequency of jaw tremor movements presented in parkinsonism, thereafter we analyzed the effect of the lesion on the expression of multiunit activity (MUA) of the cerebellum.

Results: We found cerebellar activation during mandibular movements and increment during oral jaw tremor movements. In addition, the amplitude of baseline MUA registered in animals with alteration of the VLS decreased with respect to the intact group.

Conclusions: Accordingly, we conclude that cerebellar changes in MUA may be due to a decrease in the cerebellar inflectional or as a possible compensatory function between cerebellum and basal ganglia.