Oscillatory Coupling Between Thalamus, Cerebellum, and Motor Cortex in Essential Tremor

Background Essential tremor is hypothesized to emerge from synchronized oscillatory activity within the cerebello-thalamo-cortical circuit. However, this hypothesis has not yet been tested using local field potentials directly recorded from the thalamus alongside signals from both the cortex and cerebellum, leaving a gap in the understanding of essential tremor. Objectives To clarify the importance of cerebello-thalamo-cortical oscillatory coupling for essential tremor. Methods We investigated oscillatory coupling between thalamic local field potentials and simultaneously recorded magnetoencephalography in 19 essential tremor patients with externalized deep brain stimulation electrodes. Brain activity was measured while patients repeatedly adopted a tremor-provoking posture and while pouring rice grains from one cup to another. In a whole-brain analysis of coherence between the ventral intermediate nucleus of the thalamus and cortex we contrasted epochs containing tremor and epochs lacking tremor. Results Both postural and kinetic tremor were associated with an increase of thalamic power and thalamo-cortex coherence at individual tremor frequency in the bilateral cerebellum and primary sensorimotor cortex contralateral to tremor. These areas also exhibited an increase in corticomuscular coherence in the presence of tremor. The coupling of motor cortex to both thalamus and muscle correlated with tremor amplitude during postural tremor. Conclusions These results demonstrate that essential tremor is indeed associated with increased oscillatory coupling at tremor frequency within a cerebello-thalamo-cortical network, with coupling strength directly reflecting tremor severity.