Líneas de trabajo: At the Laboratory of Movement Disorders we are studying the processes implicated in the origin and evolution of Parkinson’s disease (PD). More precisely, the research is focussed in five mean lines:

Study of compensatory mechanisms. We are carrying out experiments using the non-human primate(MPTP model) and the 6-OHDA rat model of PD to define and understand the functional states at the basal ganglia level that characterise each stage of the disease, paying special attention to the pre-symptomatic changes compensating for dopamine depletion;

Study of the physiological changes that lead to the onset of dyskinesias. We are developing different models of a progressive, bilateral dopaminergic depletion that could mimic more realistically the changes occurring in patients with PD. Once developed, we will analyse the pathophysiological circuit changes underlying the onset of dyskinesias and the effects of L-DOPA administration pattern, i.e. either continuously or discontinuously;

Study of different vulnerability factors on dopaminergic neurons, focusing on the role of glutamate secretion on dopaminergic neurons degeneration, using rat primary mesencephalic cultures;

Study of human mesenchimal cells grafting. Bone marrow cells differentiated to astrocyte-GDNF phenotype, in order to provide injured substantia nigra with an external source of trophic factors in  MPTP monkeys;

Differential protein analysis on human brain biopsies. Detection of different aggregated proteins, such as a-synuclein, in prefrontal cortex biopsies taken from PD patients.