ArticleCerebellum & ataxias2020
A pilot study of essential tremor: cerebellar GABA+/Glx ratio is correlated with tremor severity.
Article in Cerebellum & ataxias, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neurometabolite differences in Autism as assessed with Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Imaging the Pathophysiology of Essential Tremor-A Systematic Review.Frontiers in neurology · 2021Pooled it
- Pathophysiological Role of Primary Motor Cortex in Essential Tremor.Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society · 2025Article
- Metabolic alterations in patients with essential tremor before and after deep brain stimulation: keys to understanding tremor using magnetic resonance spectroscopy.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- The impact of pregabalin and gabapentin on essential tremor: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Clinical parkinsonism & related disorders · 2025Review
- GABA, Glx, and GSH in the cerebellum: their role in motor performance and learning across age groups.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Article
- Quantifying GABA in Addiction: A Review of Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Studies.Brain sciences · 2022Review
- Multimodal imaging of essential tremor and dystonic tremor.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2022Article
- The Pathophysiology and Treatment of Essential Tremor: The Role of Adenosine and Dopamine Receptors in Animal Models.Biomolecules · 2021Review
- GABA, Glutamate, and NAA Levels in the Deep Cerebellar Nuclei of Essential Tremor Patients.Frontiers in neurology · 2021Article
- GABAergic Modulation in Movement Related Oscillatory Activity: A Review of the Effect Pharmacologically and with Aging.Tremor and other hyperkinetic movements (New York, N.Y.) · 2021Review
- Imepitoin for treatment of idiopathic head tremor syndrome in dogs: A randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled study.Journal of veterinary internal medicine · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveEssential tremor is a common movement disorder with an unclear origin. Emerging evidence suggests the role of the cerebellum and the thalamus in tremor pathophysiology. We examined the two main neurotransmitters acting inhibitory (GABA+) and excitatory (Glx) respectively, in the thalamus and cerebellum, in patients diagnosed with severe essential tremor. Furthermore, we also investigated the relationship between determined neurotransmitter concentrations and tremor severity in the essential tremor patients.
methodsTen essential tremor patients (prior to deep brain stimulation surgery) and six healthy controls, were scanned using a 3 T MR system. GABA+ and Glx concentrations were measured using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) performed using single voxel MEGA-PRESS. For the purpose of assessing the tremor severity, the essential tremor rating scale (ETRS) was used in accordance with Fahn, Tolosa, and Marin.
resultsWe demonstrated that the cerebellar GABA+/Glx ratio was positively correlated to the ETRS (r = 0.70, p = 0.03) in essential tremor. Cerebellar and thalamic GABA+ and Glx concentrations did not show any significant difference when comparing essential tremor patients with healthy controls, at the group level.
conclusionWe demonstrated a positive correlation between increasing tremor disability and the ratio of GABA+/ Glx in the cerebellum of essential tremor patients. This highlights the impact of an altered balance of the excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters in tremor severity. Rather than a change in GABA+, which was constant, we attribute this finding to an overall decrease of Glx.
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