The ultra-powerful 7T MRI scanners could be exploited to intervene on those patients with Parkinson’s disease who have the option of receiving new therapies for previously untreatable symptom treatments. This was stated in a recent research by the scientists of theCambridge University.
The results of the study have been published in the scientific journal Movement Disorders.
Ultra-powerful 7T MRI scanners: here’s how they can help treat Parkinson’s
Both Parkinson’s disease and a related disorder, progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), are progressive brain disorders that not only affect movement but also impair motivation and cognition.. These latter symptoms can have a major impact on a patient’s outcome, impacting their survival and general well-being, as well as stress and costs for families.
To understand the causes of these cognitive symptoms, scientists at the University of Cambridge used a new ultra-powerful 7T MRI scanner at the Wolfson Brain Imaging Center to monitor changes in the brains of people with Parkinson’s disease, PSP, or in good health. “7T ”refers to the strength of the magnetic field – most MRI scanners tend to be 3T or less.
People who have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and PSP are often treated with drugs such as L-DOPA, which compensate for severe dopamine loss, but dopamine therapy does little for many of the non-motor symptoms. For this reason, experts became interested in norepinephrine, a chemical that plays a vital role in brain function, including attention and arousal, thinking and motivation.
Professor James Rowe from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Clinical Neuroscience, who conducted the study, said: “Norepinephrine is very important for brain function. Our entire brain supply comes from a tiny region in the back of the brain called the locus coeruleus, which means ‘the blue spot’. It’s a bit like two half-inch long spaghetti sticks: it’s thin, it’s small and it’s hidden right at the base of the brain in the brain stem “.
A 2021 research by Professor Rowe’s team, which carefully studied the brains donated to Cambridge Brain Bankrevealed that some people with PSP had lost up to 90% of the norepinephrine-producing locus coeruleus.
The team of researchers asked themselves a question: How can this tiny region be studied in patients who are still alive? Previous MRI scanners lacked the resolution to measure the region in living patients.
“The locus coeruleus is problematic to see on a normal scanner“Explained Professor Rowe. “Even good hospital scanners can’t see it very well. And if you can’t measure it, you can’t understand how two people differ: who has more, who has less? We wanted the MRI scanners to be good enough to be able to measure it. “
While most scanners can show structures at the level of detail of a grain of rice, the ultra-powerful 7T MRI scanners can provide resolution the size of a grain of sand. The ultra-powerful 7T MRI scanners allowed the Cambridge researchers to examine their patients’ locus coeruleus and confirmed that the higher the level of damage in this region, the more severe their apathy symptoms and worse the cognitive tests.
The findings paved the way for new hope for using new treatments for these symptoms. A number of norepinephrine-increasing drugs have already undergone clinical trials for other conditions and therefore have been shown to be safe and well tolerated. Professor Rowe and colleagues are now conducting a clinical trial at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to see if these therapies can alleviate PSP symptoms.
Dr. Rong Ye from the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, first joint author of the study, said: “Not all patients with PSP or Parkinson’s will benefit from norepinephrine-increasing drugs. Those people with damage to their locus coeruleus are more likely to benefit, and the greater the damage, the greater the benefits they are likely to see.“.
“Ultra-powerful 7T MRI scanners can help us identify those patients we think will benefit the most. This will be important to the success of the clinical trial and, if the drugs are effective, it means that we know which patients to treat Long-term, this will prove more cost-effective than giving norepinephrine boosters to patients who would ultimately not see any. benefit“.
Damage to the locus coeruleus in PSP is thought to be caused by an accumulation of the junk protein tau. When norepinephrine breaks down, it appears to trigger changes in the tau protein that lead to its accumulation. This then damages the same cells that produce norepinephrine, leading to a vicious cycle. A similar situation can occur in Parkinson’s disease.
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