Functional Segregation in Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease is known to result in loss of dopamine projections to the striatum (a structure in the forebrain). It is generally thought that this loss affects the topmost and posterior parts of the striatum, followed by more anterior and inferior regions. While the pattern of caudal to rostral (back to front) progression is generally well accepted, the additional dorsal to ventral (top to bottom) gradient is less well established. There have yet to be any systematic studies assessing the effects of disease progression on how the distribution of dopamine dysfunction in Parkinson’s Disease maps out into different parts of the body and different functions.
The aim of this research project is to provide a deeper understanding of the development and progression of Parkinson’s Disease, as well as identify opportunities for therapeutic intervention.
The investigation will be conducted as a pilot study, and will specifically track functional changes within the brain in early Parkinson’s Disease. The analysis will be initially restricted to early Parkinson’s disease, as this is when the brain’s own mechanisms are most likely to be able to compensate for deficits arising from dopamine deficiency.
In this study, researchers will be using a new, state-of-the-art hybrid PET-MRI scanner to study these functional changes within the brain. This study will be conducted at the Charles E. Fipke Integrated Neuroimaging Suite in the Djavid Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health.
Using the hybrid PET-MRI scanner, we wish to obtain imaging data to:
Assess whether striatal activation and dopamine release are separated for simple motor tasks in different areas of the body (finger movements vs. foot tapping);
Assess whether striatal activation and dopamine release are separated for cognitive and/or reward-based tasks compared to motor tasks; and
Determine if the degree of separation is different between Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and healthy controls (HC).
The hybrid PET-MRI scanner allows researchers to study simultaneously the pattern and degree of dopamine release as well as activation of connected networks in the brain, something that could not be done with traditional technology.
July 2022: Exciting preliminary results point towards a confirmation of Dr. Jon Stoessl’s hypothesis that the spatial distribution of striatal dopamine release differs between PD and HC subjects, and that people with PD do not demonstrate the discrete localization of dopamine release that is seen in HC subjects. For more information and updates on this project, read the July 2022 Impact Report here.
The principal investigator for this project is Dr. Jon Stoessl. The next stage of this new research will be connected to the Exercise project if the pilot is successful.
The total commitment to this project is $600,360. If you would like to support this research project, please donate here.