Functional neuroimaging of prepulse inhibition in schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease

Funded Activity Summary

Inhibition deficits have been consistently demonstrated in a broad spectrum of neuropsychiatric conditions that have been implicated with altered neurotransmitter function of the brain. These conditions include mental disorders like schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and pathological gambling and neurological disorders like Huntington's disease, Gilles-de-la-Tourette syndrome and other conditions which are characterised by impaired impulse control. Studies on animal models suggest that an impaired dopamine neurotransmission - either genetically pre-determined and-or stress-induced by environmental factors - may significantly contribute to a common pathological mechanism across these conditions that, in turn, results in impaired 'sensory motor gating', a physiological measure of inhibitory brain processes. Traditionally, sensory motor gating is indirectly measured using the acoustic startle eye-blink response. However, this peripheral measure cannot directly assess the brain processes underlying sensory motor gating. This study will apply new functional brain imaging methodology and EEG-based source localisation techniques to assess the neural substrates of inhibitory processes involved in sensory motor gating in two neuropsychiatric conditions that involve dysfunctional dopaminergic mechanisms: schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2005

End Date: 01-01-2007

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $446,750.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Mental Health

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

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Other Keywords

Parkinson's Disease | Schizophrenia | dopamine | functional brain imaging | prepulse inhibition | sensory motor gating

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