Cognitive and Emotional Aspects of Parkinson's Disease Working Group Meeting

The Division of Neuroscience, NIA cosponsored this work group meeting with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and National Institute of Mental Health, in which 17 extramural scientists were invited to participate. This meeting was part of an effort to stimulate research on nonmotor aspects of Parkinson's disease. Participants were divided into two focus groups: (1) depression and Parkinson's disease, and (2) interactions and overlap of psychiatric and cognitive changes associated with Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. Some of the recommendations included:

• Research on clinical trials for the treatment of nonmotor symptoms (e.g., depression)
• Development of new animal models at all levels, from invertebrates to primates
• Establishment of a national primate facility to facilitate nonhuman primate research
• Establishment of a national brain bank for Parkinson's disease patients to allow correlation of neuropathology and clinical symptoms
• Development of a minimal dataset for Parkinson's disease to be used by investigators in the field.

Other, more specific, recommendations also were made.

Contact Information

Dr. Wen Chen
301-496-9350