Research Abstract:
We are engaged in several studies of Parkinson Disease (PD). We investigate mechanisms of action of deep brain stimulation, a dramatic new treatment for PD. These studies combine PET, cognitive testing and quantified measures of movement. We also test new drugs that might rescue injured nigrostriatal neurons (using an animal model of PD). For these, we use PET to measure dopamine pathways and also quantify motor behavior. We are developing new PET (positron emission tomography) and MR(magnetic resonance)-based neuroimaging biomarkers for measuring PD progression. We also trying to develop a PET-based method to diagnose the cause of dementia in people with PD (comparing cognitive, clinical, PET imaging and pathologic data).
We use PET to measure radioligand binding and sensorimotor processing in dystonia. We developed a new animal model of dystonia to investigate pharmacologic and physiologic changes. We use PET to investigate drug-mediated pathways in the brain and parse out the effects of selective dopaminergic agonists.
Finally, we investigate the relationship between blood flow responses in the brain with electrophysiological responses done in the same animals. These animal studies provide insights into the basic mechanisms of many of the studies that we subsequently apply to humans.
Selected Publications:
Tabbal S, Ushe M, Mink JW, Revilla FJ, Wernle A, Hong M, Karimi M, Perlmutter JS. Unilateral STN stimulation has a measurable ipsilateral effect on rigidity and bradykinesia in Parkinson disease. Exp Neurol 2008 210: 402-408.
Campbell MC, Karimi M; Weaver P;Wu J; Perantie D;Golchin N; Tabbal; Perlmutter JS, Hershey T. Neural correlates of STN DBS-induced cognitive variability in Parkinson disease. Neuropsychologia 2008 46:3162-9.
Powers WJ, Videen TO, Markham J, Black KJ, Golchin N, Perlmutter JS. Cerebral mitochondrial metabolism in early Parkinson disease. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2008 28:1754-60.
Karimi M, Golchin N, Tabbal S, Hershey T, Videen TO, Wu J, Mink JW, Perlmutter JS: Subthalamic nucleus stimulation-induced regional blood flow responses correlate with improvement of motor signs in Parkinson disease Brain 2008 131:2710-9.
Powers WJ, Videen TO, Markham J, McGee-Minnich L, Antenor-Dorsey JAV, Hershey T, Perlmutter JS. Selective defect of in vivo glycolysis in early Huntington disease striatum. Proc Natl Acad Sci 2007 104: 2945-2949.
Last Updated: 08/21/2009 |