DopaCon
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Dopamine and Memory Consolidation in Ageing and Disease
IRAS ID
209870
Contact name
Elizabeth Coulthard
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
North Bristol NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Our previous research has shown that dopamine (a transmitter chemical in the brain) affects learning and memory in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. It improved working memory (WM) tests and modulated episodic memory tests, impairing early consolidation and improving late consolidation.
We wish to further investigate this, and also test Huntington's disease (HD) patients who also have a dopaminergic pathology.
We will test HD and PD patients, (the PD patients tested ON and OFF their dopaminergic medication) and age-matched controls on WM and episodic memory tasks. The episodic consolidation test will also test memory over far longer time periods (14 days) than the previous tests which only covered 24 hours. This will allow us to see how the diseases and dopaminergic medication affect memory over longer timescales.REC name
South West - Central Bristol Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/SW/0205
Date of REC Opinion
2 Aug 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion