Associate Professor Brian Hyland
Associate Professor Brian Hyland says the technique, similar to that sometimes used during human neurosurgery, monitors the activity of specific brain cells during natural behaviour.
This means they can study brain function in both a healthy state and in a diseased state, and also look at how the new drugs work.
"Our focus is understanding the mechanisms involved - how the drug works and how it normalises brain function," says Hyland.
He says that the new drug blocks the action of adenosine, a natural product of metabolism, which builds up during the day to promote sleep and slows movement.
The stimulant actions of coffee are also due to blocking adenosine action but, unlike an ordinary cappuccino, the new drugs selectively act in the part of the brain affected by Parkinson's.
"The idea is that by blocking the action of adenosine selectively in the movement-control pathways of the brain, you can boost performance without affecting other functions," he says. "This effect may complement L-DOPA, the treatment mainstay for Parkinson's, and help avoid side-effects.
"If you can nail down how these new drugs work, you can apply more directed design to developing new or enhanced drugs in the future to improve outcomes for Parkinson's disease patients."
This project is now part of an ongoing Health Research Council-funded programme researching the behavioural and cellular mechanisms of hyperactivity and movement disorders.
The programme is led by Professor Jeff Wickens, of Otago's Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, who is also principal investigator in the Neurobiology Research Unit at the new Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan.
This will foster collaborative work with other projects within the programme and between researchers
n New Zealand and Japan.
FUNDING
Health Research Council
Neurological Foundation of New Zealand
Private donations and, in particular, Mrs O Miles (Dunedin) and Mr C and Mrs D Cameron (Wellington)