Parkinson's disease, a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that approximately affects one million Americans, is characterized by progressive tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia, and postural instability. The pathological basis of these symptoms is thought to be due to the degeneration of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra (basal ganglia region) of the brain. However, recent evidence suggests that the functional changes associated with Parkinson's disease extend beyond the substantia nigra to other subcortical and cortical areas. The exact etiology of Parkinson's disease is unknown and is thought to be due to the combination of multiple genetic and ennvironmental factors.
One of the goals of our lab is to investigate distributed changes in neural activity associated with Parkinson's disease and to determine the effects of therapeutic agents such as levodopa and dopamine agonists on these changes using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This project gives us the opportunity to better understand Parkinson's disease while also using a fairly novel technique, in the hopes of making fMRI a future Parkinson's disease diagnostic tool.
Another goal of the lab is to understand the etiology of Parkinson's disease, especially how genetic factors interact with environmental factors.
