Scientists image brain structures that deteriorate in Parkinson’s

A new imaging technique developed at MIT offers the first glimpse of the degeneration of two brain structures affected by Parkinson’s disease.

The technique, which combines several types of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), could allow doctors to better monitor patients’ progression and track the effectiveness of potential new treatments, says Suzanne Corkin, MIT professor emerita of neuroscience and leader of the research team. The first author of the paper is David Ziegler, who received his PhD in brain and cognitive sciences from MIT in 2011.

The study, appearing in the Nov. 26 online edition of the Archives of Neurology, is also the first to provide clinical evidence for the theory that Parkinson’s neurodegeneration begins deep in the brain and advances upward.

“This progression has never been shown in living people, and that’s what was special about this study. With our new imaging methods, we can see these structures more clearly than anyone had seen them before,” Corkin says.