PARKINSON'S DISEASE
The goal of this project is to study the effects of acoustic stimulation in animal models of Parkinson disease to foster our knowledge of the possible beneficial effects of such type of stimulation and the underlying mechanisms behind it.
In order to do so first we are developing a pharmacologically induced animal model of Parkinson’s disease. At the moment we are using an intrastriatal injection of the 6-hydroxidopamine, and we are using behavioural tests, electrophysiology recordings (EEG and EMG) and histology characterize the possible functional alterations present in the brain of pharmacologically induced animal models of Parkinson’s disease, through an intrastriatal injection of the neurotoxin 6-hydroxidopamine and longitudinal recordings of electroencephalography (EEG) and electromyography (EMG). We also study motor alterations through behavioral tests, and their correlation with the dopaminergic neurodegeneration occurring at the substantia nigra pars compacta. We are also studying Additionally, we investigate the provoked cortical activity in the somatosensory region and the sleep cycles of such animals as opposed to healthy ones. The latter is not specifically targeted at evaluating the effects of acoustic stimulation, but to analyse possible traits that could lead to improve the diagnosis or evolution of the disease.
Once the basal behavior of this pharmacologically induced animal model of Parkinson’s disease is characterized, we will treat the animals with an acoustic, non-invasive therapy and we will study their possible effects at functional and cognitive level (behavioralbehavioural tests) and also at electrophysiological (EEG/EMG) level through computational analyses. We will compare its possible effects with those on healthy animals and also with those that of the standard treatment in PD, levodopa with benserazide, and whether the application of both treatments combined would result in a greater efficacy.

C57BL/6 mice auditory capacity evaluation by CAEPs. (A) CAEPs recordings of 3 (3 mo) and 6 (6 mo) months old C57BL/6 mice at 5 and 0.5 kHz stimuli from 100 to 60 dB SPL dB. ANL means ambient noise level. (B) N1-peak amplitude from first 50-ms baseline of 3 (upper graph) and 6 months old (lower graph) C57BL/6 mice at 5 and 0.5 kHz. Recordings without an identifiable N1-peak were removed from the mean. Data is shown as means ± SEM analysed from four recordings from each condition. No statistical analysis was performed.
García-Peña, P., López, J. M., Ramos, M., González-Nieto, D. and de Arcas, G. (2025). Modulating Cerebral Rhythms in Parkinson's Disease: Insights on the Role of Auditory Stimulation. In Proceedings of the 18th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - BIOSIGNALS; ISBN 978-989-758-731-3; ISSN 2184-4305, SciTePress, pages 752-762. DOI: 10.5220/0013247800003911

Parkinson’s disease & acoustic therapy
Possible functional & electrophysiological improvement
Adaptated from Gwilz, File:Vector diagram of laboratory mouse (black and white).svg - Wikimedia Commons, Wikimedia Commons, December 20, 2013. Accessed on: April 27, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vector_diagram_of_laboratory_mouse_(black_and_white).svg

Relative and gamma power at baseline day (D0), pre- (PRE) and post-stimulation (POST) periods days (D1, D3 and D5) and resting days (D2 and D4) obtained from iEEG recordings of five mice at AS-protocol 2. Vertical black lines represent auditory stimulation (AS) periods. Data is shown as means ± SEM analysed from five mice. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed.
García-Peña, P., López, J. M., Ramos, M., González-Nieto, D. and de Arcas, G. (2025). Modulating Cerebral Rhythms in Parkinson's Disease: Insights on the Role of Auditory Stimulation. In Proceedings of the 18th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - BIOSIGNALS; ISBN 978-989-758-731-3; ISSN 2184-4305, SciTePress, pages 752-762. DOI: 10.5220/0013247800003911
This research line is a collaboration with the Instrumentation and Applied Acoustics Research Group in the scope of the Laboratory of Neuroacoustics (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid).