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| SPRING Poster | |||||||||||||
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The aim of the new PDS Tissue Bank is to supply high quality samples of human brain and other tissue to scientists studying the causes and treatments of Parkinson's Disease.
Thus far, there are no treatments for Parkinson's that can halt the disease or restore damaged nerve cells. In order to establish new and more effective treatments for Parkinson's, it is necessary to gain a better understanding of the changes that occur in brain tissue and to relate these to healthy ageing, by comparing Parkinson's tissue with results obtained from parallel study of normal brain tissue. Human tissue research has already contributed to the development of drugs for Parkinson's such as L-Dopa and greater understanding of how cells die in the disease and how we control movement. Hence, the donation of the human brain is one of the most important legacies that can be made to the progression of research into Parkinson’s and other neurological disorders. In addition:
"Looking at post-mortem brain tissue is like looking at the scene of a crime. You are trying to gather evidence to find out what has happened" says Professor Graeber, Tissue Bank Neuropathologist. "In the same way police gather forensic evidence, researchers can gather important clues as to how cells die in Parkinson's".
Since PD is a progressive disease of the nervous system, the brain and spinal cord are used in research. The cerebrospinal fluid bathes the brain and spinal cord, so the study of this fluid may also provide useful information. We therefore routinely remove the following tissue:
Firstly it is important to state that ANYONE can donate to the Tissue Bank! Not only is tissue from Parkinson's and Parkinson's plus movement disorders (Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) and others) crucial for the work of the Tissue Bank, but also tissue from control donors with no neurological conditions is also vital. The control donors are key to provide a comparison to normal ageing tissue.
If someone is interested in donation, they are sent an information sheet, to ensure they have sufficient information to make the important decision of whether to become a registered tissue donor. Then, once the person has discussed it with their family and has decided they wish to donate, there are required to complete three forms; a donor form, which they sign themselves to show that they wish to donate; a next-of-kin form for a relative to complete; an health information form. The next-of-kin form is essential, due to the fact that following the death of a donor; permission from the next-of-kin has to be obtained before any tissue can be removed. Once the Tissue Bank receives the completed forms, the donor is registered on our database and will be sent a donor card to carry with them at all times. The card has their own unique donor number and our 24 hour emergency contact number (07659 10 45 37). |
The brain and spinal cord change very quickly after death and thus tissue taken from the body within 24 hours of death is of greatest value to research. Therefore we have put in place a procedure that ensures prompt collection and storage of donated tissues. We aim to collect the tissue within 24 hours, although this may not always be possible. At, or near the time of death, a person's next-of-kin, legal representative or GP should contact the Tissue Bank on the 24-hour telephone number on the donor card. One of the Tissue Bank team will be available at all times and will call back and ask for details. That person will then arrange for the funeral director to take the body to a hospital near the home or place of death to remove the brain tissue and any other tissues being donated. The brain and spinal cord are removed in a respectful and careful manner that permits display of the body after tissue retrieval. A member of the Tissue Bank team will immediately collect the tissue. This process should only add a few hours onto the funeral arrangements already made by relatives and they will not incur any cost.
Requests for tissue come from recognised Institutions both in the UK and around the world. Each request will be reviewed by an independent scientific panel, to check its scientific merit and its possible benefit to Parkinson’s disease research. Once ratified the Tissue Bank will supply the appropriate tissue to the research team. The research team will provide a written report of the findings of research carried out on tissue supplied from the Tissue Bank. The challenge for Parkinson's researchers lies in unravelling the complex mechanisms that bring about nerve cell death in people with PD. The ultimate aim is to understand Parkinson's and design effective treatments and ultimately find a future cure for the disease.
Below: Substantia nigra from normal (control) brain – darkened/pigmented area
Below: Substantia nigra from PD brain – pale/depigmented area
Below: A histological section of Parkinsonian Substantia nigra depicting a dopaminergic neuron containing Lewy Bodies.
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The brain is roughly made up of two equal halves. The brain is firstly cut into two, one half of the brain is fixed for neuropathological examination. The other half brain is sliced into thick sections, blocked and rapidly frozen, this is then stored long-term in a –85oc freezer. From the fixed half brain, tissue blocks from various brain regions are cut. Tissue sections from such blocks are subjected to a variety of histological stains. A neuropathologist examines the sections under a microscope to confirm that the donor had a specific neurological disease or was free from any neurological disorder and combines this information with a clinical summary produced from the donors medical records. Once the neuropathological diagnosis has been confirmed, the frozen tissue blocks can be utilised for the various research projects.
Microarray-based research in the new PDS Brain Research Centre at Imperial College Microarrays represent 'laboratories on a chip' that measure only centimetres in size (see below). They allow the high-throughput analysis of all genes expressed in tissues such as the nervous system. There are 33,000 genes to look at! The aim is to investigate if there is any up or down regulation of genes in Parkinson's tissue when you compare it to control tissue. Research on the genes involved in Parkinson's will concentrate on the genes responsible for the mechanisms of cell death that we have identified so far e.g. oxidative stress. Once we have identified genes that are either up or down regulated we will look at their expression at the cellular level i.e. does it occur in neurones, glia etc, using UV laser capture dissection (see below). Tissue from the Tissue Bank is vital for this research to take place. |
At the moment the demand for tissue for research is greater than the amount of tissue being donated to the tissue bank. The PDS and New Tissue Bank will make every effort to recruit more donors to the scheme so that we can supply tissue to all research projects that require tissue. You can help by raising the awareness of the Tissue Bank to people affected by Parkinson's Disease and those family and friends not affected by the disease so that we can encourage more people to join the donor scheme.
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