Action control in Tourette Syndrome and related conditions, version 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Action control in Tourette syndrome and related conditions
IRAS ID
161702
Contact name
Hugo Critchley
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Brighton & Sussex Medical School
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
People with Tourette Syndrome (TS) experience involuntary movement and vocal tics. These can be upsetting, or sometimes lead to injuries. In addition to the tics, people with TS may also experience other symptoms including anxiety. We need to gain a clearer idea of how brain structure and activity is different in people with TS to better understand why the symptoms occur. We can then use this knowledge in the future to design more effective treatments for individual patients.
We will conduct research using state-of-the-art brain scanning techniques and analysis methods, to explore why symptoms like tics happen, and to develop new ideas for treatments. We will use a task that measures movement control with brain scanning including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), electroencephalography (EEG), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). This will tell us how different regions of the brain work together to control movements, and how these brain networks may function differently in people with TS. We will ask people with TS, healthy controls without TS, and people with anxiety to complete these experiments.
In addition to the brain scanning, we will take some measures of body activity, such as heart rate and muscle activity. We will also ask participants to do some psychology tasks and questionnaires outside the brain scanner.
These new studies will tell us more about how the brain works in people with TS and people with anxiety. We hope to use this knowledge in future research to design tailored treatments for people according to their individual brain characteristics.
The funds for this research were awarded to Dr Charlotte Rae through a competitive fellowship at the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. The research team also includes NIHR ACF Dr Alice Brooke, and NHS Consultant Neuropsychiatrists Professor Hugo Critchley and Dr Neil Harrison.
REC name
London - Brighton & Sussex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/0109
Date of REC Opinion
22 Apr 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion