Groundbreaking Brain Scanning Technique May Facilitate Early Detection of Parkinson's Condition
In a groundbreaking study, an international team led by researchers at the Champalimaud Foundation has demonstrated the potential for diagnosing Parkinson's disease (PD) years before it becomes untreatable, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The team's findings, published in the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, offer hope for earlier and more accurate diagnosis of PD.
The researchers used an ultra-high field experimental MRI scanner to study a mouse model of PD. This scanner generates a magnetic field of 9.4 Tesla, significantly improving the images and enabling a clear view of brain structures. Using ultra-high resolution fMRI, they were able to detect early biomarkers for PD by sensitively imaging subtle functional impairments in brain regions related to visual and olfactory processing.
The study focused on two sensory domains: visual and olfactory impairments. PD patients can exhibit altered activity and connectivity in occipital and related visual cortical areas, while loss of smell is an early non-motor symptom of PD. Ultrahigh field fMRI provided enhanced spatial resolution to detect these subtle changes in neural activation patterns and functional networks involved in visual processing, as well as functional deficits in olfactory-related brain regions such as the olfactory bulb, piriform cortex, and entorhinal cortex.
The transgenic mice used in the study carried increased levels of a human protein called alpha-synuclein, which is thought to play a major role in the disease. The team compared the brain activity of these mice to that of their siblings who did not produce tangles of alpha-synuclein, using fMRI scans. The mice were around nine months old, which is analogous to an intermediate stage of development of Parkinson's disease.
The main analyses showed that control mice had normal activity in the corresponding brain areas, while in Parkinsonian mice, there was much less activity. The team also used 'cerebral blood flow mapping' to assess vascular properties and found that the vascular effects were weaker in Parkinson's mice.
The authors suggested checking fMRI signals in the brain of people who are reporting anosmia (loss of sense of smell) and their visual responses as a potential method for diagnosing Parkinson's disease. The combined visual and olfactory sensory aberration in the brain activity of PD rodent models could lead to early imaging biomarkers for the disease.
While loss of the sense of smell alone is not a specific biomarker for PD, this method, if proven effective, could add to the toolbox for diagnosing and classifying Parkinson's disease. The results give hope that, with future studies, more things can be looked at that hint at early development stages of Parkinson's and determine which treatments might help if given early on. This study provides a first demonstration of the ability to detect multisensory impairments in the brain robustly.
[1] Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, [article title], [year], [DOI] [5] Journal of [Name of Journal], [article title], [year], [DOI]
- The groundbreaking study exploring Parkinson's disease (PD) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) suggests that analyzing fMRI signals, particularly focusing on visual and olfactory responses, could be a potential method for earlier diagnosis of PD.
- In the pursuit of health-and-wellness and early diagnosis of neurological-disorders like PD, this study opens up opportunities for therapies-and-treatments by discovering imaging biomarkers associated with visual and olfactory impairments in PD patients.
