Evidence for traveling beta waves in the parkinsonian subthalamic nucleus

Beta oscillations (13–35 Hz) in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) are a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease (PD), yet little is known about their spatial dynamics. Since traveling waves (spatially propagating oscillations) have been observed in cortical and subcortical structures at different frequencies, we hypothesized that beta oscillations propagate as traveling waves in the STN, likely originating from the motor region of the nucleus. We leveraged multi-contact local field potential recordings from PD patients to estimate pairwise delays between contacts, and asked whether these delays could be accounted for by a simple spherical traveling wave model. Using statistical controls to safeguard against overfitting, we found evidence for spherical traveling beta waves in 11 out of 20 hemispheres, on average during 16% of the recording duration. We further demonstrated that sources are most likely located in the dorsal portion of the motor STN at the group level, and observed a positive correlation between propagation speed and residual motor impairment. Our results suggest that parkinsonian STN beta activity can organise into mesoscopic traveling waves, which has important implications for the pathophysiology of PD and the improvement of sensing-guided DBS.