Trinity researchers have discovered that some parts of the brain are over-connected, while other parts run on reduced activity, a significant development in the attempts to find a cure for motor neuron disease.
This discovery was made by researchers in Trinity’s Academic Unit of Neurology, who studied brainwave patterns. The research shows that motor neuron disease, along with other neurodegenerative conditions, is associated with important changes in neural communication between different brain networks, rather than changes in a single region of the brain.
The disease affects 350 people in Ireland, with 120 new cases diagnosed in the country each year. The average length of time from diagnosis to death is approximately three years.
Despite being a newly formed organisation in Trinity, the group has made significant advancements in the area. A previous study by the group had indicated the potential changes in EEG recordings. An EEG test is used to find problems related to electrical activity of the brain by tracking and recording brainwave patterns. These changes were linked with MRI scans, which captured anatomical changes.
These new findings considerably advance our understanding of the brain regions that start to get over-connected as the disease progresses and how they relate to the death of the motor neurons. These changes, in comparison to the healthy brain, have revealed some previously unrecognised abnormalities in the brain.
In a press statement, Prof Orla Hardiman, Head of the Academic Unit of Neurology, said that these discoveries will “revolutionise” how changes in brain function of those suffering from motor neuron disease are measured.
“This is the first step in developing new and innovative measurements that will have a major impact on how we conduct future clinical trials”, she explained.
Dr Bahman Nasseroleslami, a Senior Research Fellow and the lead author of the study, is also looking forward to the future implications and research opportunities that will come from the findings. “Understanding how the networks in the human brain interact in health and disease is a very important area that has not been adequately researched”, Nasseroleslami said in a press statement.
Speaking about the research conducted by him and his team, Nasseroleslami said that it “expands enormously our ability to understand how the brain is working in real-time, and how these changes in brain networking correlate with structural changes that we can see on MRI scans”.
