Translational Biomedicine

Introduction

To illustrate the utility of network imaging in neurologicalresearch, we review recent applications of this approach in thestudy of Parkinson disease and related movement disorders.Novel uses of the technique are discussed, including theprediction of cognitive responses to dopaminergic therapy,evaluation of the effects of placebo treatment on networkactivity, assessment of preclinical disease progression, and theuse of automated pattern-based algorithms to enhancediagnostic accuracy. Hereditary ataxia, or motor incoordination,affects approximately 150,000 Americans and hundreds ofthousands of individuals worldwide with onset from as early asmid-childhood. Affected individuals exhibit dysarthria,dysmetria, action tremor, and diadochokinesia. Theinterdisciplinary analysis suggests that computationalneurobiology can be an important tool for translationalneurology. Computational systems neurobiology can be used tounderstand neuronal systems, based on utilizinginformationgarnered from clinical reports, animal studies and in vitromodeling. Results from computational neurobiology can be usedto develop additional animal and cellular experiments that mayultimately be translated to clinical practice, i.e., translationalneurology. Clinical outcome was Dizziness Handicap Inventoryscore at recovery phase. Acute visual dependency andautonomic arousal predicted outcome. Worse recovery wasassociated with a combination of increased visual dependence,autonomic arousal, anxiety/depression and fear of bodilysensations, but not with vestibular variables. Findings highlightthe importance of early identification of abnormal visualdependency and concurrent anxiety. Visual motionsensitivityand dizziness brought on by complex or moving visualsurroundings are common in cross-sectional studies ofchronically symptomaticvestibularpatients4. Our prospectivestudy shows that if too much weighting is placed on visionacutely or if sensory integration mechanisms are unable todown-regulate the visual contribution to the centralcompensation process, patients recover poorly. Extensiveknowledge has been gained over recent decades aboutanatomic and pathophysiologic mechanisms governing saccades,rapid eye movements by which gaze is shifted between visualtargets. In this focused review, we highlight the physiology andanatomy of normal saccades as they pertain to pathologicalsaccade slowing of central brainstem origin, with emphasis onexcitatory and inhibitory burst neurons and omnipause neuronfunction.Translational Neuroscience applies findings fromfundamental laboratory research relating to brain structure andfunction to development of new therapies forneurodegenerative, neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmentaldiseases. Translational Neuroscience looks at how laboratoryresearch relating to brain structure and function informs thedevelopment of new therapies for diseases of the nervoussystem.

Conclusion

Translational Neuroscience is the process of using alltechnological advances to bring novel therapies with measurableoutcomes to patients with neurological diseases. The concept isderived from the need to translate the wealth of basicunderstanding about neuroscience, neuropathogenesis, andneuroengineering into a trajectory that will realistically lead totherapies and measurable benefit to individuals at risk for orsuffering from neurological disease. Many brain disorders arecurrently untreatable. It has been suggested that taking a‘translational’ approach to neuroscientific research mightchange this. We discuss what ‘translational neuroscience’ is andargue for the need to expand the traditionaltranslational modelif we are to make further advances in treating brain disorders.