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Louise Parr-BrownlieProfessor Parr-Brownlie's research focuses on the neural mechanisms that underlie voluntary movements and the movement deficits of Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease is a debilitating neurodegenerative disease that affects approximately 8000 people in New Zealand. To optimise current therapies or develop novel treatments for Parkinson's disease, there's a critical need to fully understand both the normal and pathophysiological roles of each component in the brain circuits that control movement. However, there is a major gap in knowledge for the brain circuit component called the basal ganglia-thalamocortical pathway.

In Parkinson's disease, loss of the brain chemical dopamine causes profound changes in single cell activity in basal ganglia nuclei. It has been assumed that changes in basal ganglia activity in Parkinson's disease are passed first to the motor thalamus and then to the motor cortex. Studies performed by Associate Professor Parr-Brownlie have shown that motor cortex activity is impaired in Parkinson's disease. Her investigation of the motor thalamus does not support a simple linear flow of pathological activity from basal ganglia to motor thalamus and motor cortex. She uses a combination of electrophysiological, behavioural and immunohistochemical techniques to address her research questions.

In collaboration with Professor Brian Hyland (Physiology) and Professor Stephanie Hughes (Biochemistry), motor thalamus and motor cortex function are being explored using cutting-edge optogenetic technology that, for the first time, enable confident characterisation and manipulation of part of the basal ganglia-thalamocortical pathway. We use light pulses to modulate brain activity in an animal model of Parkinson's disease to learn how this alters motor thalamus and motor cortex activity, and behaviour.  We envisage that our studies will, in the future, improve currently available treatments or lead to novel treatments of Parkinson's disease.

Find out more about Professor Parr-Brownlie's research

Publications

Parr-Brownlie, L. (2023, November-December). Weaving equity and innovation into Parkinson's research. Plenary presentation at the 10th Asia Pacific International Congress of Anatomists (APICA) and the 20th Australian & New Zealand Association of Clinical Anatomists (ANZACA) Conference: Reconnect, Ka Mua, Ka Muri, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Kukutai, T., Parr-Brownlie, L., & Pitama, S. (2023). A bridge between: Te Ao Māori and Te Ara Paerangi. New Zealand Science Review, 78(1-2). doi: 10.26686/nzsr.vi.8256

Parr-Brownlie, L. (2023, March). Weaving equity and innovation into Parkinson’s research. University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. [Inaugural Professorial Lecture].

Seo, S., Parr-Brownlie, L., Bilkey, D., Hughes, S., & Oorschot, D. (2023, June). Opposite changes in midbrain dopamine microcircuitry in the repeated hypoxic rat model of ADHD-like hyperactivity/impulsivity versus the maternal immune activation rat model of schizophrenia: Potential bases for new therapies. Poster session presented at the International Basal Ganglia Society (IBAGS) XIV Meeting, Stockholm, Sweden.

Bentall, L., & Parr-Brownlie, L. (2023, June). Changes in SNpr activity underlying dyskinesia in PD model rats. Poster session presented at the International Basal Ganglia Society (IBAGS) XIV Meeting, Stockholm, Sweden.

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