Investigative Tools

At a recent Awardee Meeting, there was a strong focus on using web-based tools to assess motor and cognitive symptoms in Parkinson's disease patients. There were a number of issues and questions raised in the meeting discussion to consider when developing these assessments:

• Does computer-literacy play a factor? Can anxiety about the lack of computer skills affect test performance?
• How do you address compliance in terms of setting up equipment, optimizing computer settings, etc.? Does the variablility in computer hardware and software used by patients have a large impact?
• What type of data can you reliably collect using these tools?

The Parkinson's Brain Bank provides high-quality, well-characterised post-mortem tissue to researchers studying Parkinson's all over the world - including projects in the UK, Europe, USA and Canada.

We are keen to hear from researchers who can use our resources for studies investigating the causes, treatment and cure for Parkinson's.

How can the Parkinson’s Brain Bank help me?

The Parkinson’s Brain Bank has collected over 80,000 high quality samples of brain, spinal cord and CSF from 340 individuals with or without Parkinson’s.

Samples are prepared in a variety of ways and the collection includes snap-frozen, fixed-frozen/cryoprotected and paraffin-embedded specimens. Sampling and screening procedures allow for precise anatomical and pathological characterisation of each tissue sample. Each brain and spinal cord donation is annotated with detailed information about the donor, including clinical history, medication, family history and lifestyle data where available, and complemented by a comprehensive neuropathological report. Anonymised data, including images of brains slices, are available in a searchable database accessible through our webpage to researchers worldwide.

The Parkinson’s Brain Bank operates an easy and open access policy to tissue and welcomes applications from academic institutions and the biotechnology sector. Tissue samples, which are provided free of charge, are currently dispatched within five weeks following a successful application. Different tissue preparation methods can be implemented on user request, which makes our tissue samples suitable for applications ranging from histopathology to genetic/genomic screening.

What tissue samples are available?

Our rapid retrieval guarantees short postmortem delays and high-quality tissue that is suitable for genomic and proteomic analysis, staining techniques, and postmortem cell and tissue cultures.

Our Brain Bank inventory includes neuropathological diagnoses of:

• Parkinson's disease
• Young onset Parkinson's disease
• Parkinson's disease with dementia
• Dementia with Lewy bodies
• Young onset dementia with Lewy bodies
• Multiple system atrophy (MSA)
• Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP)
• Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease
• Dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer's disease
• Progressive supranuclear palsy and Alzheimer's disease
• Essential tremor
• Frontal temporal lobar degeneration with motor neurone disease
• Non-alpha synuclein parkinsonism and tremor

Researchers can request fresh-frozen, formalin fixed-frozen or paraffin-embedded tissue in the form of blocks, slices or sections mounted on slides.

Researchers can also request control and disease control cases matched for ante-mortem parameters such as age, sex, time, agonal state and pH. Postmortem parameters such as postmortem delay, freezing or fixation procedure and storage time are also available.

How is the brain tissue characterised?

We provide a full neuropathology report or as they call it these days “deep phenotyping” for every Parkinson’s and control donation we receive. This involves sampling 25 well defined brain and spinal cord regions, cutting sections from each block for staining with a standard diagnostic set of antibodies (anti- alpha-synuclein, tau, ubiquitin, amyloid, p62) and histological dyes (H&E and LFB). All slides are screened independently by at least two neuropathologists who produce preliminary diagnosis. If necessary, extra stains/antibodies are included to confirm or exclude the presence of other types of pathology. Screening is primarily done to confirm presence of pathological changes relevant to PD and PD+ disorders but also to find changes related to dementias or age related changes.

The neuropathological data is then merged with the clinical data and a team consisting of a neurologist and a neuropathologist provides a final document which includes final diagnosis for the particular case.

What clinical information is available?

All our tissue is well-characterised and accompanied by extensive anonymised background donor information.

Donors who pledge to donate their brain complete an initial lifestyle and medical history questionnaire. This covers key symptoms such as motor, cognition, hallucinations, autonomic, mood and sleep. We continually update this information with a disease progression questionnaire and medication sheet, which is completed by potential donors every two years.

For each case, researchers receive a detailed neuropathological report, clinical report and patient medical notes. Case information is securely accessed online through a unique account.

How much do tissue samples cost?

We do not charge for samples other than the costs of tissue preparation and transport.

How are applications for tissue assessed?

Tissue requests are submitted on the standard tissue request form which contains information on how to fill the form in and how to submit it (we are currently designing another form for tissue requests). Researchers are instructed to provide description of their project and why they need the tissue as well as amount and type of tissue needed.  They also need to provide a short summary in layman’s terms for lay members of the Peer Review Panel. All request forms must be signed by the principal researcher as well as a representative of the Institution requesting tissue to indicate agreement with the Term and Conditions. Electronic forms can be submitted immediately and hard (signed) copies posted to the Brain Bank at a later date.

All tissue request forms received by the Brain Bank are checked for accuracy and then sent to members of the Peer Review Panel for assessment.

How long does it usually take for a decision to be made, and for tissue to be sent out to approved research projects?

The Peer Review Panel process tissue requests within 2-3 weeks and may provide comments and recommendations. These comments are sent to researchers. Following receipt of final set of data (explanations, documents) the chairman of the Peer Review Panel will make a final decision.

All tissue requests are divided into three broad categories: simple, intermediate and complex requests. Time depends on the amount of work that needs to be done for a particular request and can vary from 5 weeks to 2-3 months. Researchers are advised how much time it will take to complete their request and regularly updated on the progress of the request.

Find out more about the Parkinson’s Brain Bank:

Visit: www.parkinsons.org.uk/brainbank

Contact: pdbank@imperial.ac.uk