Montreal Centre A
Leader in Brain Imaging
(August 31, 2003) - Montreal is about to become home to one of the world's
most advanced brain research centres.
The Brain Imaging Group aims to map the effects of mental illness on the
brain. Someday, it may mean serious mental illnesses such as
schizophrenia could be
diagnosed early enough to avoid a lifetime of anguish.
Some forms of mental illness, like depression, can be caused by
psychological trauma such as child abuse. Others, like schizophrenia, are
physical, or rooted in the neurons and gray matter of the brain.
People suffering from
schizophrenia are living a nightmare, according to Dr. Ashok Malla of
McGill University.
"They have very frightening experiences, like hearing voices,"
said Malla. "They perceive the world at the time very differently."
The Brain Imaging Group bought a new MRI at the Montreal Neurological
Institute. The magnetic resonance imaging machine will be used purely for
research purposes.
Martin Lepage |
Martin Lepage is one of the group's lead researchers. He said they would
first study healthy people to see how their brains light up for a specific
memory task. Once the normal levels are established, they'll turn to
schizophrenics.
The scans are done at the institute and then the data is sent by high-speed
Internet to the Douglas Hospital Research Centre for analysis.
The researchers are looking at a specific part of the brain called the
amygdala, which processes emotional information.
Lepage says scientists already knew people with schizophrenia have trouble
recognizing emotions from facial expressions.
The brain scans show they use different parts of their brain to process
emotions than healthy people.
Researchers hope knowing how and where the disease manifests itself in the
brain will lead to earlier detection, and perhaps even stop brain degeneration
in its early stages.
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