The Unit on Geriatric Psychiatry remains primarily focused on the study of Alzheimer's disease. Our research program entails a three-pronged approach including: 1) diagnostic, 2) psychopharmacologic, and 3) basic science studies. The diagnostic studies involve the development and testing of new markers for the initial recognition and longitudinal tracking of Alzheimer patients. These measures may be behavioral rating instruments, cerebrospinal fluid metabolites, neuroendocrines responses to drug challenges, psychometric tests, or innovative neuroimaging techniques such as the SPECT scan. Our psychopharmacologic research broadly includes the development of new drug challenge tests (e.g., scopolamine plus metergoline), short-term therapeutic trials with previously untested simple agents (e.g., DHEA) or combinations of drugs (e.g., physostigmine plus deprenyl), and longitudinal studies with potentially neuroprotecitve agents (i.e., deprenyl). Our ongoing study combining deprenyl with physostigmine is the first major attempt at pharmacologic synergy across different neurotransmitter systems in Alzheimer's disease, and if successful, this approach may represent a new therapeutic strategy for the 1990's. Finally, in our basic science laboratory, we are developing a novel human cell culture model using olfactory epithelium for the study of Alzheimer's and other neuropsychiatric diseases. Once established, these proliferating neuronal cell lines will allow us to study human illnesses in ways never possible before. Together with our well-established pharmacological studies, this innovative basic science approach has allowed our Geriatric program to be much broader in scope.
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