Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News and Commentary
  • Published:

News & Commentary

A possible role of olivary gap-junctions in the generation of physiological and pathological tremors

Molecular Psychiatry volume 7, pages 129–131 (2002)Cite this article

Tremor is a potentially disabling pathology that affects millions of people. The inferior olive (IO) has been implicated in several types of tremor.1,2 In particular, electrical synapses have been shown to be essential for the generation of oscillatory activity in the IO,3 which may manifest as tremor. In a recent paper,4 we described how the electrical coupling of non-oscillating cells can generate oscillatory network behavior. Here we apply this dynamic mechanism to the IO and discuss the possible clinical applications.

Physiological tremor is a normal 8–12 Hz oscillatory movement of the outstretched hands, which occurs during maintained posture and to a lesser extent during movement execution. It can be accentuated by stress or fatigue and the dramatic increase in the tremor amplitude, which follows fear has been known from biblical timesFootnote 1. When the amplitude of the physiological tremor becomes large, eg, as a result of hyperthyroidism or aging, the tremor is defined as ‘pathological’ and is called enhanced physiological tremor.2

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Notes

  1. ‘When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear’ Exodus 20, 18.

References

  1. Elble RJ . J Clin Neurophysiol 1996 13: 133–144

  2. Llinas R, Pare D . In: Findley LJ, Koller WC (eds) Handbook of Tremor Disorders Marcel Dekker: New York 1995 7–36

    Google Scholar 

  3. Lampl I, Yarom Y . Neuroscience 1997 78: 325–341

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Loewenstein Y et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2001 98: 8095–8100

  5. Charles PD et al. Am Fam Physician 1999 59: 1565–1572

  6. Holmes G . Lancet 1922 1: 1177–1182

  7. Young RR et al. N Engl J Med 1975 293: 950–953

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Devor A, Yarom Y . Prog Brain Res 2000 124: 213–220

  9. Lang EJ et al. J Neurosci 1999 19: 2728–2739

  10. Lamaree Y . In: Findley LJ, Capildeo R (eds) Movement Disorders: Tremor Oxford University Press: New York 1984 183–194

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  11. Bleasel AF, Pettigrew AG . Dev Brain Res 1992 65: 43–50

  12. Barragan LA et al. Neuropharmacology 1985 24: 645–654

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Lakie M et al. Exp Physiol 1994 79: 273–276

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Growdon JH et al. Neurology 1975 25: 259–262

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Boecker H, Brooks DJ . Mov Disord 1998 13: 64–72

  16. Yarom Y . Personal Communication

  17. Fu P et al. Neuroscience 1992 51: 47–54

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Yeshaya Horowitz Association.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Racah Institute of Physics, and Center for Neural Computation, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel

    Y Loewenstein

Authors
  1. Y Loewenstein
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Y Loewenstein.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Loewenstein, Y. A possible role of olivary gap-junctions in the generation of physiological and pathological tremors. Mol Psychiatry 7, 129–131 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4000994

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4000994

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links