The Newsletter of the Faculty interviewed Dr Lia Neto, a neuroradiologist and researcher at the Institute of Anatomy. She is working on her PhD thesis involving the study of the brain nucleus called human nucleus accumbens with the aim of advancing science regarding the treatment of some psychiatric disorders that are medically intractable, such as obsessive compulsive disorder, depression, and severe anxiety, as this nucleus is involved in the so called brain reward mechanisms.

The subject matter of my PhD thesis is the human nucleus accumbens. This brain structure has been well characterized in research involving the brain of animals, such as mice and chimpanzees, but its limitations, anatomical relationships and its functional significance have not yet been rigorously established in our species.

This study is particularly important due to the fact that the accumbens is involved in brain reward circuits. This network includes several nuclei and neural pathways that are responsible for important emotional and psychomotor functions, and it is equally involved in motivation mechanisms. Of these structures, the nucleus accumbens is often called the “pleasure centre” and has become an important target for deep brain stimulation.

This neurosurgical technique was first used in 1987 to treat Parkinson’s disease and it involves placing electrodes in the deep-brain parenchyma connected to an electrical stimulation device similar to a pacemaker. The good results obtained in the treatment of this pathology and the fact that it is a safe and reversible technique lead to its expansion and to the aim to treat similar diseases. More recently, the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders resistant to medical therapy, such as selected cases of obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression and severe anxiety, started to be used. A few clinical cases of clinical stimulation of the nucleus accumbens in drug addicts and patients with anorexia have also been published.

Thus, given that the nucleus accumbens has become an important stimulation target, refining and developing these techniques absolutely depends on extensive anatomical and imaging research on this structure.

My association with the Institute of Anatomy started as a volunteer teaching assistant during my medical degree, which I concluded in 2003. Subsequently, I began the research that led to the completion of the master degree in neurosciences in 2007, with the thesis “Studies on the Human Nucleus Accumbens – identification, localization and imaging”. This research established that the human nucleus accumbens is a morphologically distinct and demarcated structure, and it enabled registering its average size, shape and peripheral stereotactic coordinates representing the spatial location of this nucleus in the human brain.

In addition to my teaching activity as Neuroanatomy Guest Junior Lecturer, I have authored and tutored students’ research projects under FMUL’s Office for the Support of Scientific Research (GAPIC). In 2011 I concluded the additional internship in Neuroradiology and became Attending Physician in the Neuroradiology Department of Santa Maria Hospital.

This multitasking as a lecturer, researcher and clinician affected the evolution of my doctoral thesis, titled Human Nucleus Accumbens – From Anatomy to Imaging and Clinical Practice”. This work led to the creation of a tri-dimensional mathematical model based on the anatomical study of the nucleus, defining a precise target for use in deep brain stimulation. The anatomical study was complemented with a histological and immunohistochemical analysis establishing the preferred location of dopamine receptors and it enabled determining a previously unidentified area of the nucleus whose existence had been proposed by brain stimulation clinical studies.

Currently, this research cycle is being completed through the structural characterization of the accumbens in vivo using high-field MRI (3Tesla), Diffusion Tensors advanced techniques and Tractography.

This research path is not in accordance with the usual standard of ultra-specialization and analysis. It is a work of synthesis that aims to bring together basic sciences, such as Anatomy and Histology, and modern neuroimaging techniques and clinical practice. It results from the collaboration and encouragement of Professor António Gonçalves Ferreira, Director of this Institute and thesis supervisor, of Professor Jorge Guedes Campos, Director of the Neurological Imaging Unit and co-author of the work, of the involvement of the Neurosurgery and Psychiatry Departments, and of the participation of students who participated in GAPIC projects. It represents a different way of doing research and I believe that it demonstrates that intense clinical activity with less availability for laboratory work is not incompatible with a valid scientific contributio