Department of Psychiatry

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Research Topics:

Parkinson's Disease

Diabetes and the Brain

Spatial Memory Test

Tourette's and Dopamine

Tourette's Syndrome (TS) is characterized by chronic motor and vocal tics.  It is believed that TS is related to abnormal dopamine levels in the brain.

In order to test how much of a role dopamine plays in TS, activities that involve dopamine were performed while measuring blood oxygen levels through functional MRI scans.  Patients with TS were compared to control subjects in working memory as well as response inhibition tasks, which are known to stimulate dopamine activity in the brain.  These tasks were done with and without the infusion of levodopa (dopamine enhancer).  The results show that without levodopa, for working memory, the control group as well as the TS patients demonstrated similar cognitive performance, but using different brain areas.  However, the administration of levodopa to TS patients allowed for areas of activation to be normalized to the control subjects’ level.  The same method was used to test response inhibition, which is believed to be one of the underlying causes of TS symptoms.  On the response inhibition tasks, no differences were found in cognitive function or area of activation between TS patients and control subjects.  The areas of activation were localized to the parietal cortex as well as the cerebellum in both subject groups, and are believed to be important in regulating dopamine activity.

Tourette's Links

Tics-R-Us  www.TICS-R.US  Washington University Dr. Kevin Black's resource page for TS patients.

 

Tourette's Syndrome "Plus" http://www.tourettesyndrome.net/  Advocacy for school and employment, educational literature, information on associated conditions (OCD, ADHD).

 

Tourette's Syndrome Association http://tsa-usa.org/  National non-profit organization with support groups, informative newsletter, information about  treatment and research.

 

Tourette's on WeMove.org http://www.wemove.org/ts.html  Informative summary for patients, family, and professionals, scientific references, message boards.

Disclaimer: The contents of the links listed have not been evaluated by Dr. Hershey or Washington University and should not be considered endorsed.  Always consult a doctor when making decisions that involve your health or medical treatment.