---
title: Improve movement via sensory filtering
nct_id: NCT05482126
status: RECRUITING
sponsor: University of Alabama at Birmingham
study_type: OBSERVATIONAL
canonical_url: "https://parkinsonspathways.com/trial/NCT05482126"
clinicaltrials_gov: "https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05482126"
last_fetched: "2026-05-10T14:07:15.616Z"
source: "Parkinson's Pathways (curated)"
---
# Improve movement via sensory filtering

**Goal (in five words):** Improve movement via sensory filtering

**Official Title:** Sensory Filtering in the Human Basal Ganglia as a Mechanism of Parkinson's Disease

**Trial ID:** [NCT05482126](https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05482126)

## Key Facts

- **Status:** RECRUITING
- **Study Type:** OBSERVATIONAL
- **Sponsor:** University of Alabama at Birmingham
- **Target Enrollment:** 30 participants
- **Start Date:** 2022-06-08
- **Completion Date:** 2026-08-01
- **Conditions:** Parkinson Disease
- **Interventions:** Intraoperative Behavioral Testing, Behavioral Testing
- **Intervention Types:** DIAGNOSTIC_TEST

## Summary For Families

They want to know whether the basal ganglia normally filters out irrelevant sensory signals, and if a failure of that filtering helps cause the movement and response problems seen in Parkinson's. During routine surgery to place deep brain stimulation electrodes in the subthalamic nucleus, researchers will run behavioral tests and record brain activity directly from the basal ganglia to see how neurons register or suppress sensory cues, and PD participants will be asked to withhold dopaminergic medications for at least 12 hours so recordings reflect the unmedicated state. Adults 18 and older are eligible, specifically people with advanced, idiopathic PD who have chosen STN DBS, have essentially normal pre-op brain imaging and no dementia or prior DBS, plus healthy adult controls with no neurologic disease.

## Eligibility

- **Minimum age:** 18 Years
- **Maximum age:** 89 Years
- **Sex:** ALL

### Full Criteria

```
Inclusion criteria (PD participants):

1. Age \>18 years
2. Clinically definite, advanced idiopathic PD based on consensus criteria.
3. Normal, or essentially normal, preoperative brain MRI.
4. Patient is available for follow-up visits over the length of the study
5. Patient has elected to undergo DBS surgery as part of routine care, and subthalamic nucleus (STN) is determined as the appropriate surgical target

Inclusion criteria (control participants):

1. Age \>18 years.
2. No diagnosis of PD, other movement disorder, or other significant neurological disease.

Exclusion criteria (PD participants):

1. Age \<18 years.
2. Medical contraindications such as current uncontrolled hypertension, heart disease, coagulopathy, or other conditions that might increase the risk of surgery
3. Diagnosis or suspicion of atypical Parkinsonism (PSP, MSA, CBD) or drug-induced Parkinsonism, or significant neurological disease other than PD.
4. Diagnosis of psychogenic movement disorder based on consensus criteria
5. Prior DBS surgery or ablation
6. Clinical dementia and/or Dementia Rating Scale (DRS) score of \<5th percentile adjusted for age and education level, based upon routine pre-op NP testing.
7. Unable to withhold dopaminergic medications for at least 12 hours prior to scheduled visit

Exclusion criteria (control participants):

1. Age \<18 years.
2. Previous diagnosis of PD, other movement disorder, or other significant neurological disease.
```

## Locations (1)

- The University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital, Birmingham, Alabama, United States _(33.5207, -86.8025)_
  - Zachary Irwin, PhD — (CONTACT) — (205) 934-6704 — zirwin@uabmc.edu

## Central Contacts

- Zachary Irwin, PhD — (CONTACT) — (205) 934-6704 — zirwin@uabmc.edu

---

*Canonical: https://parkinsonspathways.com/trial/NCT05482126*  
*HTML version: https://parkinsonspathways.com/trial/NCT05482126*  
*Source data: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05482126*