大象传媒

大象传媒 researchers are using a new approach to brain imaging that could improve how drugs are prescribed to treat Parkinson鈥檚 disease.

The new , published in the journal Movement Disorders, looks at why levodopa 鈥� the main drug used in dopamine replacement therapy 鈥� is sometimes less effective in patients.

The drug is typically prescribed to help reduce the movement symptoms associated with the neurodegenerative disorder. 

While it is effective in improving symptoms for the vast majority of patients, not everyone experiences the same level of benefit. 

In order to find out why this is the case, an 大象传媒 collaboration with researchers in Sweden has used magnetoencephalography (MEG) technology to determine how the drug affects signals in the brain. 

鈥淧arkinson鈥檚 is the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disease worldwide and it is the most rapidly increasing, in terms of incidence,鈥� says Alex Wiesman, assistant professor in biomedical physiology and kinesiology at 大象传媒. 

鈥淭reating this disease, both in terms of helping people with their symptoms, but also trying to find ways to reverse the effects, is becoming more and more important.

鈥淚f clinicians can see how levodopa activates certain parts of the brain in a patient, it can help to inform a more personalised approach to treatment.鈥�

The study was a collaboration with researchers at Karolinska Institute in Sweden, who used MEG to collect data from 17 patients with Parkinson鈥檚 disease 鈥� a relatively small sample size.

Researchers mapped participants鈥� brain signals before and after taking the drug, in order to see how and where the drug impacted brain activity.

MEG is an advanced non-invasive technology that measures the magnetic fields produced by the brain鈥檚 electrical signals. 

It can help clinicians and researchers to study brain disorders and diseases, including brain injuries, tumors, epilepsy, autism, mental illness and more. 

Using this rare brain imaging technology, Wiesman and team developed a new analysis that lets them 鈥渟earch鈥� the brain for off-target drug effects.

鈥淲ith this new way of analyzing brain imaging data, we can track in real time whether or not the drug is affecting the right brain regions and helping patients to manage their symptoms,鈥� says Wiesman.  

鈥淲hat we found was that there's sometimes 鈥榦ff target鈥� effects of the drug. In other words, we could see the drug activating brain regions we don鈥檛 want to be activating and that鈥檚 getting in the way of the helpful effects. 

鈥淲e found that those people who showed 鈥榦ff target鈥� effects are still being helped by the drug, but not to the same extent as others.鈥�  

Parkinson鈥檚 disease is a neurodegenerative disorder, meaning parts of the brain become progressively damaged over time. It affects predominately the dopamine-producing neurons in a specific area of the brain called the substantia nigra. 

People with Parkinson鈥檚 disease may experience a range of movement-related symptoms, such as tremors, slow movement, stiffness and balance problems.

Wiesman hopes that a better understanding of how levodopa affects an individual鈥檚 brain signals could improve how drugs are prescribed to treat Parkinson鈥檚.  

鈥淭his might be really helpful for tracking individualized responses to these types of drugs and helping with prescribing and therapeutics,鈥� he says.

鈥淪o maybe we try different medications, maybe we adjust dosages differently. And this helps clinicians get at that question of how we prescribe personalized medicine in a way that really helps the patient.

鈥淭he more we can personalize that approach, make it more expedient, make it a bit more specific to that person, the better.鈥�

This new type of brain imaging analysis is not only for studying Parkinson鈥檚 disease; any medications that affect brain signaling can be studied using the method developed by Wiesman and colleagues. 

厂贵鲍鈥檚 ImageTech Lab, at the Surrey Memorial Hospital, is home to the only MEG in western Canada.  

鈥淲e have this really fantastic technology right here at 大象传媒, and combined with the new analysis approaches that we鈥檙e developing, it gives us a really unprecedented look into what鈥檚 happening in the brain,鈥� says Wiesman.  

鈥淲e can use this technology moving forward to study Parkinson鈥檚 disease in ways that no one has ever done before worldwide. 

鈥淥ur next step is to take our new approach and apply it to a larger patient group. We also need to translate this research to more accessible brain imaging methods, like electroencephalogram (EEG). 

鈥淯ltimately, we want to make sure this technology is useful for a diverse population and more widely accessible to patients with Parkinson鈥檚 disease.鈥�

Available 大象传媒 Experts

ALEX WIESMAN, assistant professor in biomedical physiology and kinesiology | alex_wiesman@sfu.ca