{"id":1206,"date":"2017-04-12T12:04:22","date_gmt":"2017-04-12T16:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/parkinsonpost.com\/?p=1206"},"modified":"2017-04-12T12:04:22","modified_gmt":"2017-04-12T16:04:22","slug":"peering-into-the-living-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/peering-into-the-living-brain\/","title":{"rendered":"Peering into the living brain"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Christopher

Christopher Phenix<\/p><\/div>\n

Diagnosing early Parkinson\u2019s disease is a challenging process that relies largely on the clinical skills of neurologists who are familiar with the symptoms in other patients they have treated.\u00a0 There is no biological test that can confirm early Parkinson\u2019s \u2013 often, it is diagnosed late into its progression.<\/p>\n

Researchers now know, however, that early in Parkinson\u2019s onset, levels in the brain of a protein called GBA1 begin to drop significantly. The only way researchers have learned that, however, is by analyzing tissue samples from the brains of people with Parkinson\u2019s disease who have died, or through experiments using human cells.<\/p>\n

At the University of Saskatchewan, Christopher Phenix, an assistant professor of chemistry, has invented compounds that could be adapted into radioactive tracers that could attach to GBA1 in people. His goal is to allow researchers and clinicians to use Positron Emission Tomography (PET) to scan images of the brains of living people and study their levels of GBA1, which his tracer and chemical compound will make visible on an imaging scan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is develop a PET method where we can actually peer into the brain of a living person and study GBA1 activity or levels in real time,\u201d Phenix says. He recently received a one-year, $45,000 pilot project grant from Parkinson Canada\u2019s Research Program to pursue this research.<\/p>\n

Not only would PET scans that reveal levels of GBA1 serve as a diagnostic aid for Parkinson\u2019s disease, they could also be invaluable in measuring the effectiveness of drugs designed to increase the activity of the protein. Phenix\u2019s compounds could produce a non-invasive test to see if the drugs are working, and could also help select patients with low GBA1 as good candidates for drug trials.<\/p>\n

Being able to understand the underlying structures of Parkinson\u2019s disease and how it progresses before most of the dopamine-producing brain cells have died, will also be critical once other researchers develop a therapy to stop the disease\u2019s advancement.<\/p>\n

For Phenix, this research is personal. His grandmother Lucille Sosiak had Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty devastating disease, so when you have a personal connection to it, it really helps you stay focused on your research and your goal to help people with Parkinson\u2019s disease,\u201d Phenix says.<\/p>\n

Read about other researchers<\/a> recently funded by the Parkinson Canada Research Program by visiting the research section of archiveparkinson.thedev.ca.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Diagnosing early Parkinson\u2019s disease is a challenging process that relies largely on the clinical skills of neurologists who are familiar … En savoir plus<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[237],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nPeering into the living brain - Parkinson Canada<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Peering into the living brain - Parkinson Canada\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Diagnosing early Parkinson\u2019s disease is a challenging process that relies largely on the clinical skills of neurologists who are familiar ... 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