Researchers will develop an MRI imaging sensor to measure real-time signaling by the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is diminished in Parkinson’s disease, as laboratory animals undergo reinforcement (reward) learning.
Dopamine signaling pathways in the brain are involved in cognition and motor control. Their disturbance, as occurs in Parkinson’s disease patients, for instance, results in progressively severe cognitive and movement problems. Yet scientists know little about how dopamine disruption produces damage, in large part because current experimental techniques have limited capacity to reveal the temporal and spatial patterns of dopamine release and uptake by neurons in the brain. This lack of understanding impairs efforts to try to therapeutically influence dopamine signaling for maximum benefit in patients. The MIT researchers, therefore, will attempt to develop a high-resolution MRI imaging sensor with sufficient resolution to characterize the spatial and temporal patterns of dopamine signaling within neural networks, in real time, to provide insight into how the time-courses of local dopamine concentrations influence brain cell processing in normal and disease states.
Significance: This MRI imaging sensor could be used to gain a better understanding of how dopamine functions normally and how it malfunctions in animal models of Parkinson’s disease and addiction. It may eventually be used to provide the earliest diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease in humans and the to study effects of experimental treatments to restore effective dopamine transmission.