Stimulating brain cells deeply by shining a blue light on them is part of a promising new treatment for Parkinson's being developed by University of Otago researchers.
Scientist Dr Louise Parr-Brownlie is ‘‘cautiously optimistic'' movement control in Parkinson's patients will eventually be improved.
A potential new site for deep brain stimulation treatment had been identified, she said.
About 10,000 New Zealanders have Parkinson's, 80% of them aged 60-plus.
Dr Parr-Brownlie, a senior lecturer in anatomy, recently received a research grant of $162,047 from the Neurological Foundation of New Zealand to undertake related brain research involving an animal model of the disease.
This was the largest grant to a Dunedin researcher in the foundation's latest national research funding round, which totalled $1.1million. Otago researchers gained more than $500,000.
Dr Parr-Brownlie's laboratory was the first in New Zealand to use ‘‘selective optogenetic stimulation'', which rouses targeted parts of the animal brain by using blue light, she said.
She and her team had focused on a region of the brain called the motor thalamus, an important link in the ‘‘motor pathway'', or the route of cell activity that allows us to initiate and control movement.
She discussed her latest research at a small gathering of foundation supporters in Dunedin this week. The results so far offered a new site for deep brain stimulation that could be more effective in addressing symptoms in Parkinson's patients, she said.
In other grants, Dr Rebekah Blakemore, of the university's Christchurch campus, received $144,817 to study why some Parkinson's patients were able to suppress involuntary tremors.
Prof Tim Anderson, also of Christchurch, received $146,396 to use new technology to determine how the accumulation of a protein in the brains of Parkinson's patients affects cognitive decline.
Grants also went to Dr Peter Mace, biochemistry, Dr Liana Machado, psychology, both $12,000; Dr Lucia Schweitzer, biochemistry, $10,448; Dr Megan Wilson, anatomy, $11,500; summer studentships, Olufolakemi (Kemi) Bolarinwa, biochemistry, Niamh Hammond, Wellington campus, both $4000.
