Fat in the brain may hold the key to understanding how Parkinson’s disease works, according to a University of Alberta researcher heading up a project aimed at discovering new mechanisms that drive the disease.
Maria Ioannou, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry and Canada Research Chair in Brain Lipid Cell Biology, and her team will explore how changes to lipids in the brain contribute to Parkinson’s.
Lipids are fatty substances such as cholesterol and oils in the body that are crucial for brain function, as the organ contains the second largest amount of lipids found in humans. The cellular substance also forms part of the structure of cells and works as a signalling molecule and antioxidant in the brain.
“Until recently we lacked the ability to study lipids in the same way we have for proteins,” says Ioannou.
“We’ve always known that lipids are just as important, and now that tool advancement is catching up, it’s reinvigorated the field and there’s a lot to do.”
To study lipids in cells at the ground level, Ioannou’s lab uses cells cultured from rodents and Parkinson’s disease patients. This allows them to modulate lipids to recreate the environment these cells experience in the diseased brain.
A strength of the study comes from real-time imaging of cell processes as they happen, Ioannou notes. “This reveals important information about the cellular dynamics that cannot be fully appreciated with a snapshot in time and space.”
Neuroscientist Maria Ioannou describes her research looking at lipids in the brain and how they may be related to neurodegenerative diseases. (Video: Geoff McMaster)
Ioannou’s project is one of 13 U of A-led studies receiving funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (see below). Ioannou’s team is receiving a project grant of $1,055,700 to fund their lipid research.
“CIHR funding is monumental because it gives us the opportunity to dive deep into these projects that we are already invested in and finish them using the best methods and model systems available,” says Ioannou.
“This will also reveal new and unexpected project directions to build from in the future.”
Parkinson’s disease is a brain disorder in which the cells that produce the chemical dopamine die and affect movement, causing tremors, fatigue and difficulty with speech, among other symptoms. About 10,000 Albertans live with Parkinson’s, and there is currently no cure for the neurodegenerative disease.
At the cellular level, one of the features of Parkinson’s is the clumping of alpha-synuclein, a protein found in the brain. Scientists today are seeing the new role that fat metabolism plays in Parkinson’s disease, but its role in the spread of alpha-synuclein is still unknown and will be studied by Ioannou’s lab to reveal new targets for potential therapies.
“What we learn from this project can be applied to other neurodegenerative diseases as well, because lipid disturbances aren’t specific to Parkinson’s disease,” she notes.
Ioannou is a member of The Group on Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids, the Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute and the Women and Children's Health Research Institute.
Other CIHR project grant recipients from U of A
Troy Baldwin, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry
Mechanisms regulating non-deletional T cell central tolerance
$929,475
Sandra Davidge, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry
Mechanisms of vascular dysfunction in pre-eclampsia and impact on later-life maternal vascular health
$967,725
Shokrollah Elahi, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry
Erythroid progenitors and precursors impair tumour immunogenicity and promote tumour progression in breast cancer
$749,700
Lisa Hartling, Sarah Elliott, Shannon Scott, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry and Faculty of Nursing
Embracing diversity: a multi-phased project to advance the science of knowledge mobilization for Canada’s culturally diverse groups
$459,000
Satyabrata Kar, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry
Native PLGA nanoparticles attenuate aggregation, phosphorylation and internalization of tau protein: potential implication in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease
$990,675
Gary Lopaschuk, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry
Cardiac insulin signalling in diabetic cardiomyopathy
$1,009,800
Matthew Macauley, Faculty of Science
Understanding CD33 as a genetic susceptibility factor in Alzheimer’s disease
$1,097,775
Salima Meherali, Faculty of Nursing
Engaging adolescents for sexual and reproductive health and rights and family planning advocacy in Pakistan
$501,076
Jason Plemel, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry
Aging impairs microglial phagocytosis and stalls remyelination
$1,350,225
Caroline Richard, Branko Braam, Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences and Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry
An investigation of potassium sources on bioavailability and homeostasis for adults living with advanced kidney disease
$918,000
Arno Siraki, Faculty of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
Clozapine toxicity mechanisms and mitigation strategies
$707,625
Anna Taylor, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry
The claustrocortical circuit and pain
$791,775
Sue Tsai, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry
Early life determinant of Type 1 diabetes susceptibility
$1,048,050