Contribution of brainstem circuit mechanisms to (patho)state dynamics in mouse models of Parkinson’s disease (B06)

• Subject Area: Cognitive, Systems and Behavioural Neurobiology
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 424778381

We will study synucleinopathy-affected circuit mechanisms underlying interactions of motor and non-motor domains. We established a viral model for cell-type specific synucleinopathy that causes neurodegeneration within dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra and motor deficits. We developed a new behavioral paradigm, to study the effects of synucleinopathy on anxiety-induced gait disruption, brainstem neural activity and cardiac dynamics in mice. In the next funding period, we will investigate integrated neural, motor and autonomic states during circuit-specific synucleinopathy and their retuning by optogenetics for a targeted modulation of PD-like pathostates.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• Subproject of: TRR 295: Retuning dynamic motor network disorders using neuromodulation
• Applicant Institution: shared FU Berlin and HU Berlin through:; Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
• Project Head: Professor Dr. Philip Tovote