Issued jointly by the University of Aberdeen and Grampian Primary Care NHS Trust
A major educational grant of £138,000 has been awarded by Novartis Pharma AG to Dr. Annalena Venneri and Dr Michael F. Shanks for continuing collaborative research between the Department of Psychology and the Old Age Psychiatry Unit at Royal Cornhill Hospital.
The new project will use the sophisticated brain imaging techniques available at the newly established University Functional Imaging Centre to look at the effects on brain activity of the different drug treatments used in Alzheimer's disease.
This is the only work of its kind in the United Kingdom being carried out at this level and the University of Aberdeen is the only centre using functional MRI to look at what actually happens in the brain when different antidementia drugs are administered.
These drugs are used to stimulate the cholinergic system, one of the neurotransmission systems in the brain. This system functions poorly in Alzheimer's disease, the most common type of dementia which affects one in five people over the age of 65. A better understanding of the different effects of these antidementia drugs will allow clinicians to better predict response to treatment, and select the appropriate drug for the patients' symptoms. The study will also investigate whether aspects of the function of these drugs actually slow down the progression of the disease.
Dr Venneri said: "The findings have shown for the first time that the use of antidementia drugs resulted in regional increases in brain blood flow that were linked with clinical benefits and improvement in cognitive function. These improvements had the practical effect of providing a better quality of life for the patients and their carers."
Dr Shanks said: "The importance of understanding the action of the only drugs licensed for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease cannot be overestimated."
This project builds on the previous studies carried out by Dr Venneri and Dr Shanks, in collaboration with the Departments of Nuclear Medicine at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and Radiology at Aberdeen University.
Dr Venneri and Dr Shanks are members of the Dementia Special Interest Group, founded by them in 1999 which includes researchers, clinicians and other scientists with a special interest in dementia operating in the Grampian region. The group meets twice a year in an informal symposium to discuss the most recent findings in the field of dementia research. Dr Shanks also has consultant responsibility for the NHS/Research Memory Clinic based at the Royal Cornhill Hospital in Aberdeen.
For further information, contact:
Communications Office, Grampian Primary Care NHS Trust. Tel: 01224 557854 Fax: 01224 557856
University Press Office on telephone +44 (0)1224-273778 or email a.ramsay@admin.abdn.ac.uk.