Study of ways to treat Parkinson’s disease

Grant award for therapy research

By Mark Dowie

Published: 04/02/2009

NEW ways of treating Parkinson’s disease are to be investigated by a researcher at St Andrews University.

Professor Philip Winn, of the school of psychology, has been awarded a grant by the Medical Research Council to study new ways of using an existing therapy.

Deep brain stimulation is a surgical method already used to treat the disease’s symptoms.

These include tremors, difficulty with movements, poor balance and gait disturbance.

With deep brain stimulation, patients can turn on or off electrodes surgically implanted in their brains which send pulses of electricity directly to specific areas of the brain.

The first aim of the research is to understand exactly what happens to brain physiology when the electrodes are switched on, to help develop better methods of stimulation.

The team also hopes to identify other targets in the brain where this stimulation might offer different benefits.

Stimulation at some sites might relieve tremor, while others may have more effect on postural and gait problems.

Prof Winn said: “It is a unique opportunity to integrate basic and clinical science.

“The method is especially useful in cases of Parkinson's where drug treatments are having less effect than normal."

The three-year £1.2million grant brings together teams of researchers in Germany, Italy, France and Scotland, co-ordinated by Christian- Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany, one of the leading centres for the surgical treatment of Parkinson’s.