Investigating the role of neurotransmitters GABA and Acetylcholine in sensory processing

Parkinson’s disease is typically considered to impact motor functions. However, non-motor symptoms, such as visual hallucinations, increase disease burden. Developing therapies for hallucinations in Parkinson’s disease has been challenging, since we do not fully understand what causes them to occur. In the healthy brain, successfully interpreting what one sees involves different neurotransmitters like GABA and Acetylcholine; hence it is possible that pathological processes involving these brain chemicals relate to the generation of visual hallucinations.

The project will investigate the role of neurotransmitters GABA and Acetylcholine in sensory processing in the healthy and Parkinsonian human brain. It will combine pharmacological interventions with human neuroimaging (functional MRI, MR Spectroscopy) and non-invasive brain stimulation, to provide putative targets for therapeutic interventions to alleviate visual hallucinations in Parkinson’s disease.

Research in Oxford will take place at the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (https://www.win.ox.ac.uk) and the MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit (https://www.mrcbndu.ox.ac.uk), hosted by the Physiological Neuroimaging Group (https://www.ndcn.ox.ac.uk/research/physiological-neuroimaging-group).