Prefrontal dopamine and cognitive symptoms of Parkinsons disease

描述(由申请者提供)：这个有指导的职业发展奖将推动Nandakumar Narayanan博士的职业生涯，成为一名专注于帕金森氏症认知功能障碍机制的独立内科科学家。目前，帕金森病的认知功能障碍尚无治疗方法，其机制尚不清楚。纳拉亚南博士建议进行实验，利用最先进的技术选择性地记录、干扰和刺激自由活动、行为正常的动物的神经元。这项拟议的研究将询问帕金森氏症认知功能障碍的机制。这一建议可能会在现有的基因治疗、功能神经外科手术和脑刺激方法的基础上，启发新的治疗帕金森病认知症状的策略。纳拉亚南博士拥有强大的神经科学背景和神经科学博士学位，并已确定了一支杰出的导师团队。他的主要导师将是拉尔夫·迪里昂博士，他是一位创新的分子生物学家，将教会他解开神经回路的新工具。同时，他将扩展他的神经学训练，掌握帕金森氏症患者治疗和脑深部刺激的方方面面。他的训练将在一次 充满活力的神经科学社区，有强有力的部门支持。从这些努力中，他将学习一套独特的技能来探索帕金森氏症认知功能障碍的机制。这个有指导的职业发展奖将使Narayanan博士能够将他的基础研究的见解转化到临床领域，帮助帕金森氏症患者。 公共卫生相关性：帕金森氏病的认知症状会导致发病率和死亡率，并且没有有效的治疗方法。本研究通过动物模型探讨认知功能障碍的发生机制，以期为帕金森病认知功能障碍的治疗提供新的思路。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This mentored career development award will advance the career of Dr. Nandakumar Narayanan towards becoming an independent physician-scientist focused on the mechanism of cognitive dysfunction in Parkinson's disease. Currently, there are no treatments for cognitive dysfunction in Parkinson's disease and the mechanism is unclear. Dr. Narayanan proposes experiments that leverage state-of-the art techniques for selectively recording, disrupting, and stimulating neurons in freely-moving, behaving animals. The proposed research will interrogate the mechanism of cognitive dysfunction in Parkinson's disease. This proposal could inspire new therapeutic strategies for cognitive symptoms of PD based on existing gene therapy, functional neurosurgery and brain stimulation approaches. Dr. Narayanan has a strong neuroscience background with a PhD in neuroscience, and has identified an outstanding mentorship team. His primary mentor will be Dr. Ralph DiLeone, an innovative molecular biologist who will teach him novel tools to unravel neural circuits. In parallel, he will extend his neurological training to master all aspects of carng for patients with Parkinson's disease and with deep-brain stimulation. His training will occur in a vibrant neuroscience community with robust departmental support. From these efforts, he will learn a unique skill set to explore the mechanism of cognitive dysfunction in Parkinson's disease. This mentored career development award will position Dr. Narayanan to translate insights from his basic research to the clinical arena to help patients with Parkinson's disease. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Cognitive symptoms in Parkinson's disease cause morbidity and mortality, and have no effective treatments. This proposal explores the mechanism of cognitive dysfunction in animal model with the hope of generating new treatments for cognitive dysfunction in Parkinson's disease.