Biomarkers of Cognitive Impairment in Parkinson’s Disease
Dr. Bradley MacIntosh | University of Toronto, Sunnybrook Research Institute
$45,000 (1 year) Porridge for Parkinson’s Pilot Project in Honour of Delphine Martin
Project: Biomarkers of Cognitive Impairment in PD Using Orthostatic Hypotension, White Matter & Grey Matter fMRI Metrics: A PPMI* Study
Dr. Bradley MacIntosh is a senior scientist with the Brain Sciences Research Program at the University of Toronto (Sunnybrook Research Institute). He studies the use of imaging technology to track blood flow in the brains of people living with Parkinson’s.
Dr. MacIntosh works closely with scientists in the fields of neurology and psychiatry. His areas of research interest include functional and vascular imaging techniques using magnetic resonance imaging, notably the arterial spin labelling perfusion technique, and he studies stroke and neurodegenerative diseases. In addition to using neuroimaging measurements as outcome measures for aerobic exercise trials, his laboratory is actively developing new forms of physiological images, such as cardiac pulsatility effects on the brain.
This funding supports Dr. MacIntosh’s research in using imaging technology to track volatile blood flow in the brains of people with Parkinson’s disease. In many cases, non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s (including orthostatic hypotension, caused by blood pressure concerns) appear before the more commonly thought of motor symptoms of the disease. Correlating blood flow with fluctuations in white matter and cognitive decline contributes to the development of diagnostics to spot Parkinson’s disease early and potentially suggest ways of treating it by controlling blood pressure.
Dr. MacIntosh uses imaging technology to try to identify people with these early symptoms of Parkinson’s. MacIntosh is using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to scan the brains of people who have difficulty regulating their blood pressure. The scans track how often the brain is pulsating, “a measure of blood flow to the brain. Dr. MacIntosh believes the volatility of that blood flow is bad for the brain, and might be either depriving brain cells of oxygen or flooding them with too much oxygen, at different times.
“The brain is like Jello, and it’s pulsating with every heartbeat. Too much of this jiggling, we think, is related to blood vessels that have lost their ability to cushion the blood flow.” – Dr. MacIntosh
Dr. MacIntosh researched rates of pulsatility with fluctuations in white matter in the brains of people who have already been diagnosed clinically as being in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease. He and his team also tested cognitive functioning.
“What we’re aiming for right now is a non-invasive diagnostic tool using information that is already out there. It’s just a matter of finding and proving that this can be helpful.” – Dr. MacIntosh, 2015
