Joseph Carrion

I am currently working on imaging the chronic effects of levodopa treatment in a rodent model of Parkinson’s diseases with collaborators in Lund University, Sweden. Acute treatment of levodopa in a rat model of Parkinson’s disease induces a coupling disruption between the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF), and the regional cerebral glucose utilization (rCGU), but we've also observed an unexpected breach in the blood-brain-barrier (BBB). Similar results were obtained with a second group of rats that were chronically treated with levodopa. Currently, we're investigating the effects of acute and chronic levodopa treatment on rCBF, rCMU, inflammation, and BBB permeability in the same animals longitudinally using four radiotracers: 15-O water,11C-AIB, 11C PBR and 18-FDG.