Neurotransmitter Circuit Mapping of Brain Lesions - Insights Into the Neural Basis and Therapeutics of Stroke Behavioral Syndromes

Host

Albino Oliveira-Maia, MD, PhD, Neuropsychiatry Lab 

Venue

Seminar room

Abstract

The discovery of neurotransmitters reshaped our understanding of brain function. Distinctive patterns of neurotransmission frame determinant circuits for cognition and behavior. Stroke, as a predominant cause of brain pathology, orchestrates a cascade of cognitive and behavioral sequelae. Exploring how neurotransmitter systems relate to these deficits is a promising direction, but progress has been limited by the difficulty of mapping neurotransmitter circuits in vivo.

Recently, we combined normative nuclear medicine imaging data with tractography to develop a novel MRI white matter atlas of neurotransmitter circuits and developed a tool for neurotransmitter circuit mapping - the NeuroT-map. This tool estimates how stroke disrupts neurotransmitter systems and distinguishes whether damage is primarily pre- or postsynaptic, while accounting for neurochemical diaschisis.

I will present the main patterns of neurotransmitter circuit damage in stroke revealed by this methodology and discuss the potential of tailored neurotransmitter modulation therapies for stroke-related cognitive dysfunction. I will then show how this approach contributed to shed light on poststroke aphasia and how it allowed us to reinterpret the neural basis of the historical leukotomy cases pioneered by Egas Moniz.

Bio

Pedro Nascimento Alves is a Neurologist at Hospital de Santa Maria and Director of the Laboratório de Estudos de Linguagem, Centro de Estudos Egas Moniz, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa. His research focuses on cognition and behavioural neurology, stroke, and neuroimaging. Currently, he is investigating how neurotransmitter circuit mapping in stroke patients can advance our understanding of the neural basis of stroke-related behavioural syndromes and guide novel therapeutic approaches.


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About CR Colloquia Series

Champalimaud Research (CR) Colloquia Series is a seminar programme organised by the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown to promote the discussion about the most interesting and significant questions in neuroscience and physiology & cancer with appointed speakers by the CR Community.