We study the normal brain in youth and at older ages. Our researchers have access to unique data sets from the Aberdeen and Lothian 1921 and 1936 birth cohorts. They are using this data to develop neurological biomarkers of cognitive decline and early dementia.
Our radiochemistry researchers are developing novel PET and SPECT tracers to use in molecular imaging in drug development. Such novel tracers can be used to better identify the population to treat, to quantify disease response to therapy and to measure biodistribution of drugs in Phase I trials.
Ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke and subarachnoid haemorrhage together create a major public health burden and are one of our major focuses for research. Research groups in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen are actively engaged in single and multi-centre collaborative projects and regularly participate in multi-centre treatment trials. Interests range from pathophysiology of large artery ischaemic stroke and effects of treatment, particularly thrombolysis, through methods of improving characterisation of acute ischaemic tissue damage with imaging, to small vessel ischaemic stroke and in particular, probable mechanisms (blood-brain barrier failure versus emboli or microatheroma). We study how to image (and hence predict) stroke recovery (with tractography and fMRI); how to use brain and vascular imaging most cost effectively in stroke; methods of blood vessel imaging (carotid and vertebral stenosis, atheroma, aneurysms, inflammation); and have pioneered methods of stroke image assessment for large multicentre clinical trials.
Blood-brain barrierOur researchers are investigating the blood brain barrier role in small vessel disease and peritumoural oedema. For example researchers in Edinburgh have established:
- A key role for blood-brain barrier failure as part of the spectrum of abnormalities in patients with small vessel disease
- Changes in background blood brain barrier integrity between lacunar and cortical ischemic stroke subtypes
- Lacunar stroke is associated with diffuse blood-brain barrier dysfunction
Our researchers have undertaken a range of research using MR spectroscopy (MRS): for example researchers in Edinburgh have used MRS to determine:
- Absolute brain temperature and shown that temperature is highest in potential penumbral tissues
- Brain temperature in acute ischaemic stroke
In Scotland, the ageing brain has been studied from data that has been collated in the Aberdeen and Lothian 1921 and 1936 birth cohorts. People from these cohorts have been cognitively tested in childhood and again longitudinally in later life. Furthermore, they have been imaged, and brain volumetric measurements and assessment of vascular brain disease obtained. The aim is to characterise the imaging features of normal brain ageing, for example age-related changes of the brain's white matter or brain volume. To help understand the range of normal appearances with age, we will develop a series of age-specific templates. This will enable images obtained from patients to be mapped against an average image set for age and sex, and will be invaluable in clinical practice.
Researchers across the SINAPSE network are engaged in imaging research to study the imaging features of different dementias. Alzheimer's disease is the commonest dementia, and recently trials of a novel drug have used molecular imaging to demonstrate changes that predict clinical response.
Scotland has one of the highest prevalence rates in the world of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), the commonest disabling neurological disease in young adults. The focus of medical research is to discover and deliver new therapies to prevent and repair myelin damage and so limit axon loss in the disease. A key problem is the lack of correlation between standard imaging finding and clinical severity, and thus the lack of biomarkers that distinguish those patients who will progress rapidly, from those whose disease will remain stable for many years - clearly trials of aggressive therapies need to be targeted to the former group. To this end imaging researchers in Scotland are working to develop a range of methods including DTI and MTR-based protocols to measure and predict white matter damage and repair.
Our researchers in Aberdeen are using structural and functional MRI and EEG to investigate neurodevelopmental disorders including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Developmental Co-ordination Delay (DCD).
Neuroimaging is crucial to mental health research. For example, in Edinburgh we are imaging brain structure and function in familial Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. In Aberdeen, fMRI is used to investigate abnormal responses of the brain in Major Depressive Disorder, and radiochemistry research focuses on novel PET ligand development for diseases such as depression and Schizophrenia.
