Rinsho Shinkeigaku (Clinical Neurology)

Symposium 4

Pathophysiology of tremor rhythm

Ritsuko Hanajima, M.D., Ph.D.1)

1)Department of Neurology, Unisersity of Tokyo Hospital

Tremor is a rhythmic involuntary movement of any body parts. Some peripheral and central mechanisms can produce it. The former includes peripheral mechanical oscillations and oscillations due to spinal reflexes. The latter includes central oscillations originated from some central pacemakers or network loops through cerebellum, basal ganglia or others. Weight loading on a body part is one method for differentiation between the peripheral and central mechanisms. In peripheral tremor, the weight load usually changes the tremor frequency. In contrast, it is not affected by the load in the central tremor. Both mechanisms relate to produce essential tremor and enhanced physiological tremor. Basal ganglia, sensory-motor cortex, cerebellum, red nucleus and inferior olive nucleus could be the central pacemakers or involved in the central loops for tremor. The facilitation and inhibition imbalance within a pacemaker or imbalance between feed-forward and feedback regulations within central loops may generate some rhythms.
Full Text of this Article in Japanese PDF (581K)

(CLINICA NEUROL, 53: 1276|1278, 2013)
key words: rhythm, frequency, peripheral mechanism, central mechanism, central loop

(Received: 1-Jun-13)