None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) is an idiopathic, rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disease for which there is currently no diagnostic test or any disease modifying treatment. It is caused by an accumulation of mictotubule associated tau protein in the basal ganglia, midbrain and cortical regions. There is selective loss of inhibitory interneurones and corticocortical projections leading to frontal atrophy which may correlate with the motor and cognitive disabilities. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation is capable of inducing action potentials in cortical neurones, and provides the capacity to measure cortical neuronal excitabilityand interneuronal function. Preliminary data shows this may be a method for measuring neuronal function in PSP, which may enable its use as a biomarker. The intention of this study is to determine if these measure ments are able to distinguish PSP from other parkinsonian syndromes with similar clinical features, and if these measurements correlate with advancing clinical features over time.
Interventions
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
TMS will be performed on each participant at each 6 month reveiw period. This will include measures of intracortical inhibition and facilitation, resting motor thresholds and motor evoked potentials before and after theta burst stimulation. The TMS protocol is expected to take 2-3 hours each session, and will be conducted on 5 occasions for each participant, separated by 6 months each time, for a total study duration of 2 years.
Sponsors
A/Prof David Williams
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
40 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Four groups to be recruited: 1. 20 People with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy as defined by National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke criteria 2. 10 People with "probable" or "possible" Multiple System Atrophy according to published consensus criteria 3. 10 People with Parkinson's Disease according to Queens Square Brain Bank criteria 4. 10 normal controls
Exclusion criteria
1.People with epilepsy 2.People with intracranial metal whith may increase the risk of seizures or injury due to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation 3. People not able to complete clinical rating scales including cognitive assessment at baseline 4. Patients deemed not cabable of consenting to involvement in the study and for whom an appropriate person responsible is not available to participate in the consenting process
Outcome results
None listed