NONINVASIVE QUANTITATION OF BIOCHEM CHANGESPARKINSONS

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. Noninvasive Quantitation of Biochemical Changes in the Human Substantia Nigra in Parkinson's Disease (in collaboration with Dr. Paul Tuite, Neurology, supported by Dana Foundation): The goal in this project is to measure neurochemical alterations by high field MRS in the substantia nigra of patients with Parkinson's disease. Substantia nigra is the brain region primarily affected by Parkinson's disease and neurochemical alterations detected by MRS in this region may be utilized as biomarkers as well as improve our understanding of disease mechanisms. However, MRS of substantia nigra is very challenging due to the small size and iron content of the structure. Our preliminary data at a 4 Tesla scanner has demonstrated the feasibility of quantifying 10 neurochemicals in patients and controls and trends for some neurochemicals to change in patients. Our goal in this project was to move the spectroscopy methods to our 7 Tesla scanner in order to improve sensitivity and to be able to localize better in the substantia nigra.