David E Vaillancourt
University Of Florida
Project start date: 2008-06-01
Project end date: 2012-05-31
Sponsored Links Excellgen http://Excellgen.com
Grants awarded to David E Vaillancourt
SCALING AND SEQUENCING MOTOR OUTPUT IN HUMANS: FMRI STUDY
David E Vaillancourt, Assistant Professor
University Of Illinois At Chicago, 310 Aob, M/c 672, Chicago, Il 60612
Grant 5R01NS052318-06 from National Institute Of Neurological Disorders And Stroke
Abstract: Parkinson´s disease (PD) is an insidious disease that affects the quality of life of over one and a half million people in the United States alone. In the past several decades, it has become accepted that PD occurs as a result of degeneration in dopaminergic cells in the substantia nigra pars compacta. Animal models have shown that this degeneration causes a cascade of changes in the functioning of inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitters within the basal ganglia. However, three major shortcomings in our current understanding of PD still remain. First, there remains limited knowledge of how PD affects the functioning of specific nuclei of the basal ganglia in humans and how this relates to motor deficits that are impaired in PD. Second, although degeneration in the substantia nigra can be used to confirm PD at autopsy, there is limited knowledge in living humans linking structural degeneration in the substantia nigra with neuronal activation in the basal ganglia and cortex. Third, there is limited knowledge of how the basal ganglia and cortex are impaired in PD prior to patients taking dopaminergic medication (de novo PD). Over the past few years, our laboratory has developed new paradigms and methodology using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine specific nuclei in the basal ganglia when healthy adults produce and select grip force output. The general view that has emerged is that posterior nuclei of the basal ganglia regulate basic parameters of continuous grip force output, whereas anterior nuclei of the basal ganglia regulate the internal selection of grip force amplitude. As such, the central hypothesis of this application is that due to degeneration in the substantia nigra, PD patients lose the ability to activate the anterior and posterior basal ganglia and cortex appropriately for different motor tasks. In order to test this hypothesis, we will study de novo patients with PD and healthy control subjects in two specific aims using both fMRI and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Aims 1a and 2a will use fMRI to study the functional abnormalities of the basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical loop during grip force tasks in de novo PD and control subjects. Aims 1b and 2b will combine DTI and fMRI in de novo PD to examine the relation between structural degeneration (DTI) in the substantia nigra and neuronal activation (fMRI) in the basal ganglia and cortex when PD patients perform different grip force tasks. The results of the proposed studies will provide the first evidence in humans linking task-specific motor deficits in PD with structural degeneration in the substantia nigra and neuronal activation in the basal ganglia and cortex. Parkinson´s disease affects over one and a half million people in the US alone, and patients with Parkinson´s disease have significant problems controlling movement. These problems are thought to be related to structural degeneration in a region of the brain called the substantia nigra, which in turn is part of a brain region known to be important for movement control called the basal ganglia. This will be the first study in humans to determine how specific motor tasks alter the link between structural degeneration in the substantia nigra and neuronal activation in specific nuclei of the basal ganglia. The study will use functional and high-resolution structural brain imaging to examine the basal ganglia and other brain regions in patients with Parkinson´s disease as they perform different motor tasks and compare them to people without the disease. Since very little is known regarding the brain function of Parkinson´s disease prior to taking medication, we will perform our studies before patients begin a drug treatment program for the disease
Keywords: 21+ years old; Adult; Advisory Committees; Affect; Animal Model; Animal Models and Related Studies; Anisotropy; Anterior; Arts; Autopsy; Basal Ganglia; Basal Nuclei; Brain; Brain imaging; Brain region; Cell Communication and Signaling; Cell Nucleus; Cell Signaling; Data; Diffusion; Diffusion MRI; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Diffusion Weighted MRI; Disease; Disorder; Dopaminergic Cell; Drugs; Encephalon; Encephalons; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Funding; Goals; Grips; Human; Human, Adult; Human, General; Idiopathic Parkinson Disease; Image; Intracellular Communication and Signaling; Knowledge; Laboratories; Lewy Body Parkinson Disease; Life; Link; MRI, Functional; Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Functional; Man (Taxonomy); Man, Modern; Medication; Method LOINC Axis 6; Methodology; Modeling; Motor; Motor Cortex; Motor output; Movement; Nerve Cells; Nerve Transmitter Substances; Nerve Unit; Nervous System, Brain; Neural Cell; Neurochemistry; Neurocyte; Neurons; Neurotransmitters; Nucleus; Output; Paralysis Agitans; Parkinson; Parkinson Disease; Parkinson`s; Parkinson`s disease; Parkinsonian; Parkinsonian Condition; Parkinsonian Diseases; Parkinsonian Disorders; Parkinsonian Syndrome; Parkinsonism; Parkinsons disease; Patients; Pharmaceutic Preparations; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Prefrontal Cortex; Primary Parkinsonism; Production; Property; Property, LOINC Axis 2; Public Health; QOL; Quality of life; Research; Resolution; Role; Science of neurochemistry; Severity of illness; Signal Transduction; Signal Transduction Systems; Signaling; Structure; Substantia Nigra; Substantia nigra structure; Task Forces; Testing; United States; adult human (21+); biological signal transduction; body movement; brain visualization; diffusion tensor imaging; disease control; disease severity; disease/disorder; disorder control; drug/agent; fMRI; grasp; imaging; innovate; innovation; innovative; model organism; motor control; motor deficit; necropsy; neurochemistry; neuronal; new approaches; novel approaches; novel strategies; novel strategy; pars compacta; postmortem; public health medicine (field); public health relevance; social role; treatment program
Relevance: Relevance to Public Health: Parkinson´s disease affects over one and a half million people in the US alone, and patients with Parkinson´s disease have significant problems controlling movement. These problems are thought to be related to structural degeneration in a region of the brain called the substantia nigra, which in turn is part of a brain region known to be important for movement control called the basal ganglia. This will be the first study in humans to determine how specific motor tasks alter the link between structural degeneration in the substantia nigra and neuronal activation in specific nuclei of the basal ganglia. The study will use functional and high-resolution structural brain imaging to examine the basal ganglia and other brain regions in patients with Parkinson´s disease as they perform different motor tasks and compare them to people without the disease. Since very little is known regarding the brain function of Parkinson´s disease prior to taking medication, we will perform our studies before patients begin a drug treatment program for the disease
Project start date: 2005-08-01
Project end date: 2011-07-31
Budget start date: 1-AUG-2010
Budget end date: 31-JUL-2011
PFA/PA: PA-07-070
5R01NS052318-06 (2010): $421112
2R01NS052318-05A1 (2009): $0
5R01NS052318-04 (2008): $271892
5R01NS052318-03 (2007): $270474
5R01NS052318-02 (2006): $278622
1R01NS052318-01 (2005): $280307
FMRI Activity During The Visual Control Of Force
David E Vaillancourt, Assistant Professor
University Of Illinois At Chicago 310 Aob, M/c 672 Chicago, Il 60612
Grant 5F32NS044727-02 from National Institute Of Neurological Disorders And Stroke IRG: ZRG1
Abstract: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at 3 Tesla provides a powerful tool to investigate the sensorimotor processes involved in the neural control of human movement. The long term objective of the investigator is to examine the neurophysiological processes, as measured by blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) contrast, involved in the motor control of healthy individuals and extend these paradigms to study the influence of intervention strategies (e.g. rehabilitation, pharmacology) on the physiology of aging and disease. The specific purpose of this proposal is to examine the neural systems underlying the spatial and temporal components of the mechanism that transfers visual signals into motor commands---a visuomotor process. The proposed studies will measure BOLD contrast fMRI and isometric force output from human participants while they perform continuous feedback-based force production. The experiments will examine two hypotheses in two specific aims. Aim 1 tests the hypothesis that the temporal component of the visuomotor process is localized in the parietal cortex and the cerebellum bilaterally. Aim 2 tests the hypothesis that the spatial component of the visuomotor process is also localized in the parietal cortex and the cerebellum bilaterally. It is further hypothesized that the spatial regions within the parietal cortex and cerebellum will be different from the temporal areas shown in Aim1. Collectively, these findings will advance our fundamental understanding of human systems neuroscience and improve feedback models of visuomotor control. These findings will have further implications for better understanding the visuomotor control deficits associated with aging, and diseased persons with Parkinson s disease, ataxia, and cerebellar deficits.
Keywords: biomechanics, functional magnetic resonance imaging, neural information processing, psychomotor function, cerebellum, neuromuscular system, parietal lobe /cortex, respiratory oxygenation, sensorimotor system, space perception, bioimaging /biomedical imaging, clinical research, human subject, postdoctoral investigator, young adult human (21-34)
Project start date: 2003-07-31
Project end date: 2005-07-30
5F32NS044727-02 (2004): $48928
1F32NS044727-01A2 (2003): $46420
ROLE OF CORTEX AND CEREBELLUM IN VISUALLY-GUIDED MOTOR BEHAVIOR
David E Vaillancourt, Assistant Professor
University Of Illinois At Chicago, 310 Aob, M/c 672, Chicago, Il 60612
Grant 5R01NS058487-03 from National Institute Of Neurological Disorders And Stroke
Abstract: During neurological rehabilitation following a stroke or brain injury patients may retrain the motor system using a robotic device in which they interact with a visual feedback display. Recent evidence indicates that enhancing errors may facilitate rehabilitation, and error feedback can be enhanced through visual feedback. Our long-range goal is to develop a basic understanding of how the central nervous system processes visual information during motor control, and apply this information to facilitate brain activation during neurological rehabilitation. As the first step, the objective of this four year proposal will determine how temporal and spatial features of motion stimuli differentially modulate the neuronal activation and topography of the visuomotor, visual, and motor systems within the human brain. This proposal will implement carefully- constructed motor psychophysics paradigms that we have previously established behaviorally to manipulate temporal and spatial dimensions of visual motion stimuli. At the same time, we will measure human grip force, eye movements, and brain activation using state-of-the art BOLD fMRI. Our central hypothesis is that the human visuomotor system processes temporal and spatial properties of motion stimuli through topographically organized neural mechanisms in the parietal cortex, premotor cortex, basal ganglia, and cerebellum. The specific aims are 1) To determine how the temporal features of motion stimuli are processed in the brain; 2) To determine how the spatial features of motion stimuli are processed in the brain; and 3) To determine the topographic organization and integration for temporal and spatial properties of visual motion in the brain. The innovation of this proposal is that we will provide the first comprehensive examination of the neural mechanisms of the visuomotor and motor system related to temporal and spatial features of motion stimuli. This outcome will extend what is known about the motion processing stream beyond visual cortex to regions that control movement. Furthermore, the outcome of this study will provide basic insights into how brain activation can be enhanced with visual feedback that may prove important for designing visual feedback displays used during neurological rehabilitation following stroke and brain injury. This research study uses brain imaging technology to show that different parameters of visual information can facilitate brain activation in regions of the brain that control movement. This is the first step toward our long-term goal of using patient-specific visual feedback displays during neurological rehabilitation to facilitate brain activation and maximize recovery of function
Keywords: Acquired brain injury; Affect; Apoplexy; Area; Arts; Basal Ganglia; Basal Nuclei; Behavior; Brain; Brain Injuries; Brain imaging; Brain region; CNS processing; Cell Communication and Signaling; Cell Signaling; Cerebellum; Cerebral Stroke; Cerebrovascular Apoplexy; Cerebrovascular Stroke; Cerebrovascular accident; Data; Dimensions; Dorsal; Encephalon; Encephalons; Eye; Eye Movements; Eyeball; Feedback; Frequencies (time pattern); Frequency; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Goals; Grips; History; Human; Human, General; Imaging technology; Inferior; Intracellular Communication and Signaling; LBUL; Laboratories; Literature; Lobule; MRI, Functional; Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Functional; Man (Taxonomy); Man, Modern; Measures; Motion; Motor; Motor Cortex; Motor output; Movement; Nerve Cells; Nerve Unit; Nervous; Nervous System, Brain; Neural Cell; Neuro rehabilitation; Neurocyte; Neurological rehabilitation; Neurons; Neurorehabilitation; Outcome; Outcome Study; Parietal; Parietal Lobe; Parietal Lobe of the Brain; Patients; Performance; Physical Health Services / Rehabilitation; Process; Property; Property, LOINC Axis 2; Psychophysic; Psychophysics; Recording of previous events; Recovery; Recovery of Function; Rehabilitation; Rehabilitation therapy; Rehabilitation, Medical; Research; Role; Scanning; Signal Transduction; Signal Transduction Systems; Signaling; Stimulus; Stream; Stroke; Structure; System; System, LOINC Axis 4; Testing; Time; Variant; Variation; Vascular Accident, Brain; Visual; Visual Cortex; Visual Motion; area MT; area V5; biological signal transduction; body movement; brain attack; brain control; brain damage; brain lesion (from injury); brain visualization; central nervous system processing; cerebral vascular accident; design; designing; experiment; experimental research; experimental study; fMRI; functional recovery; grasp; improved; innovate; innovation; innovative; insight; mind control; motor control; neural; neural mechanism; neurologic rehab; neurologic rehabilitation; neurological rehab; neuromechanism; neuronal; parietal cortex; public health relevance; rehabilitative; relating to nervous system; research study; robotic device; social role; stimulus processing; stroke; visual cortical; visual feedback; visual information; visual motor; visuomotor
Project start date: 2008-06-01
Project end date: 2012-05-31
Budget start date: 1-JUN-2010
Budget end date: 31-MAY-2011
PFA/PA: PA-07-070
5R01NS058487-03 (2010): $335310
5R01NS058487-02 (2009): $338835
Sponsored Links Excellgen http://Excellgen.com
David E Vaillancourt
University Of Florida
Project start date: 2005-08-01
Project end date: 2016-07-31