Pathophysiological Mechanisms in Parkinsonian and Essential Tremor

The present project deals with the pathophysiological basis of the two most frequent tremor disorders, Parkinsonian and essential tremor. Combined EEG-EMG investigations provided evidence that there is tremor-correlated activity in the sensorimotor cortex in both Parkinson's disease and essential tremor. This suggests that the sensorimotor cortex is involved in tremor generation, and that the tremor generating mechanisms in both disorders are partly identical (Hellwig et al., Clin Neurophysiol 2000; 111: 806–809; Hellwig et al., Lancet 2001; 357: 519–523). In bilaterally activated essential tremor, tremor-correl…