Michael J. Fox Foundation Awards $2 Million for Research on Cognitive and Mood Symptoms of Parkinson...(l scalesto improve diagnosis and for use...),Health

Eugenia Gurevich, PhD, of Vanderbilt University (USA) will test the hypothesis that simultaneous reduction of dopamine and the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which plays a major role in memory formation, leads to symptoms of PD-related dementia. To test this hypothesis, her group will administer a Parkinsonian toxin to preclinical models with lowered levels of acetylcholine, then measure their performance on a battery of cognitive tests. If the preclinical models show cognitive impairment, this project could lead to the identification of a novel preclinical model for testing therapeutic strategies for the cognitive symptoms of PD.

John Growdon, MD, of Harvard University (USA) will build on preliminary data implicating the protein beta amyloid -- better known for its role in Alzheimer's disease -- in Parkinson's-related cognitive changes. Dr. Growdon will enroll 40 Parkinson's patients, half of whom are experiencing cognitive impairment. Working with Pittsburgh compound B (PIB), an imaging agent developed by Alzheimer's researchers to visualize amyloid protein accumulation in the living brain, Dr. Growdon's team will scan the PD patients' brains. The researchers will then follow this cohort of patients over a two-year period to determine the extent of cognitive changes undergone by each and correlate this data to the scans. The work could lead to the initial validation of amyloid as a therapeutic target of interest and potential biomarker for PD-related cognitive decline.

Ben Schmand, PhD, of Academic Medical Center (The Netherlands) has been funded to extend an observational clinical study begun three years ago. His study has thus far collected a wealth of information on parkinsonism, neuropsychological status and qual
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