Prof. Dr. Hans-Jochen Heinze
Deputy Speaker
Prof. Dr. Heinze is clinic director of the Univeristy Hospital for Neurology at the University of Magdeburg
German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE)
Leipziger Str. 44
39118 Magdeburg
hans-jochen.heinze(at)dzne.de
+49 (0) 391 / 6713431
More information
Areas of investigation/research focus
Alzheimer’s disease, the most prevalent representative of neurodegenerative diseases, involves progressive deterioration of cognitive functions. Common symptoms in early stages of Alzheimer disease include the inability to recall recent events and acquire new memories. It is our goal to gain a better understanding of the neuronal networks that underlie plasticity and learning and to develop therapeutic strategies to improve the performance of the diseased brain. Higher brain functions are highly activity-dependent, flexible and capable of learning. In spite of encouraging insights from animal studies showing the occurrence of cognitive plasticity in the face of neural loss, and clinical observations that cognitive abilities tend to fluctuate spontaneously and can be improved by training, a systematic research on the mechanisms underlying functional reorganization is still missing. What is more, therapeutical perspectives on the basis of such findings have not been systematically explored.
We are particularly interested in higher brain functions that are modulated by dopaminergic and cholinergic neurotransmission. There is ample evidence from animal studies that these neuromodulatory transmitters substantially influence learning and memory, and recent findings suggest that human episodic memory can also be enhanced by dopaminergic neuromodulation. One key project (in collaboration with Henning Scheich) will be to explore a possible therapeutic role of deep brain stimulation (DBS) of dopaminergic and cholinergic brain structures in the treatment of degenerative dementia. We shall pursue the strategy of combining deep brain stimulation with electrophysiological recordings in sensory and prefrontal cortex in macaques trained to perform categorization tasks, and shall try to influence the behavior towards optimal performance by the stimulation.
While deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a standard procedure for the treatment of Parkinson disease, more recently electrical stimulation of subcortical structures involved in cognitive or motivational processing has been applied in patients with neuropsychiatric disorders and has become a focus of our department of stereotactic neurosurgery. Based on the substantial clinical improvement we observed in many of our patients and the recent finding that DBS can improve memory functions, we would consider DBS as a possible treatment of Alzheimer disease. As we are fully aware of the possibility that this procedure may have substantial side effects, our decision to apply DBS in Alzheimer patients will critically depend on the outcome of our studies.
Publications
Cytosolic Ca2+ regulates the energization of isolated brain mitochondria by formation of pyruvate through the malate-aspartate shuttle.
Gellerich FN, Gizatullina Z, Trumbekaite S, Korzeniewski B, Gaynutdinov T, Seppet E, Vielhaber S, Heinze HJ, Striggow F. Biochem J. 2012 May 1;443(3):747-55.
ABC transporters B1, C1 and G2 differentially regulate neuroregeneration in mice
Schumacher T, Krohn M, Hofrichter J, Lange C, Stenzel J, Steffen J, Dunkelmann T, Paarmann K, Fröhlich C, Uecker A, Plath AS, Sommer A, Brüning T, Heinze HJ, Pahnke J. PLoS One. 2012;7(4):e35613. Epub 2012 Apr 24.
Cortical thickness changes following spatial navigation training in adulthood and aging.
E Wenger, S Schaefer, H Noack, S Kühn, J Mårtensson, HJ Heinze, E Düzel, L Bäckman, U Lindenberger, M Lövdén; Neuroimage. 2011 Nov 12. [Epub ahead of print]
Kidney pathology precedes and predicts the pathological cascade of cerebrovascular lesions in stroke prone rats.
S Schreiber, CZ Bueche, C Garz, S Kropf, D Kuester, K Amann, HJ Heinze, M Goertler, KG Reymann, H Braun; PLoS One. 2011;6(10):e26287. Epub 2011 Oct 21.
The pathologic cascade of cerebrovascular lesions in SHRSP: is erythrocyte accumulation an early phase?
S Schreiber, CZ Bueche, C Garz, S Kropf, F Angenstein, J Goldschmidt, J Neumann, HJ Heinze, M Goertler, KG Reymann, H Braun; J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2012 Feb;32(2):278-90. doi: 10.1038/jcbfm.2011.122. Epub 2011 Aug 31.
Performance-related increases in hippocampal N-acetylaspartate (NAA) induced by spatial navigation training are restricted to BDNF Val homozygotes
Lövdén M, Schaefer S, Noack H, Kanowski M, Kaufmann J, Tempelmann C, Bodammer NC, Kühn S, Heinze HJ, Lindenberger U, Düzel E, Bäckman L, Cereb Cortex. 2011 Jun;21(6):1435-42. Epub 2010 Nov 11.
Spatial navigation training protects the hippocampus against age-related changes during early and late adulthood.
M. Lövdén, S. Schaefer, H. Noack, NC Bodammer, S. Kühn, HJ Heinze, E. Düzel, L. Bäckman, U. Lindenberger, Neurobiol Aging. 2012 Mar;33(3):620.e9-620.e22. Epub 2011 Apr 16.
Genetic variation of the serotonin 2a receptor affects hippocampal novelty processing in humans.
Schott BH, Seidenbecher CI, Richter S, Wüstenberg T, Debska-Vielhaber G, Schubert H, Heinze HJ, Richardson-Klavehn A, Düzel E, PLoS One. 2011 Jan 18;6(1):e15984
Performance-Related Increases in Hippocampal N-acetylaspartate (NAA) Induced by Spatial Navigation Training Are Restricted to BDNF Val Homozygotes.
M. Lövdén, S. Schaefer, H. Noack, M. Kanowski, J. Kaufmann, C. Tempelmann, NC Bodammer, S. Kühn, HJ Heinze, U. Lindenberger, E. Düzel, L. Bäckman, Cereb Cortex. 2011 Jun;21(6):1435-42. Epub 2010 Nov 11.
Sound-induced enhancement of low-intensity vision: multisensory influences on human sensory-specific cortices and thalamic bodies relate to perceptual enhancement of visual detection sensitivity.
Noesselt T, Tyll S, Boehler CN, Budinger E, Heinze HJ, Driver J, J Neurosci. 2010 Oct 13;30(41):13609-23.
Distinct frontoparietal networks set the stage for later perceptual identification priming and episodic recognition memory.
Wimber M, Heinze HJ, Richardson-Klavehn A, J Neurosci. 2010 Oct 6;30(40):13272-80.
Brain Areas Consistently Linked to Individual Differences in Perceptual Decision-making in Younger as well as Older Adults before and after Training.
S. Kühn, F. Schmiedek, B. Schott,R. Ratcliff, HJ Heinze, E. Düzel, U. Lindenberger, M. Lövden, J Cogn Neurosci. 2010 Aug 31. [Epub ahead of print]
Functional phenotyping of successful aging in long-term memory: Preserved performance in the absence of neural compensation.
Düzel E, Schütze H, Yonelinas AP, Heinze HJ, Hippocampus. 2010 Jul 21.
Diffusion tensor imaging of the corpus callosum differentiates corticobasal Syndrome from Parkinson's disease.
K. Boelmans, NC Bodammer,B. Suchorska, J. Kaufmann, G. Ebersbach, HJ Heinze, L. Niehaus, Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2010 Sep;16(8):498-502. Epub 2010 Jun 22.
Experience-dependent plasticity of white -matter microstructure extends into old age.
Lövden M, Bodammer NC, Kühn S, Kaufmann J, Schütze H, Tempelmann C, Heinze HJ, Düzel E, Schmiedek F, Lindenberger U, Neuropsychologia 2010; 48:3878-3883
High-field FMRI reveals brain activation patterns underlying saccade execution in the human superior colliculus.
Krebs RM, Woldorff MG, Tempelmann C, Bodammer N, Noesselt T, Boehler CN, Scheich H, Hopf JM, Duzel E, Heinze HJ, Schoenfeld MA, PLoS One. 2010 Jan 13;5(1):e8691.
Basal forebrain integrity and cognitive memory profile in healthy aging.
Düzel S, Münte TF, Lindenberger U, Bunzeck N, Schütze H, Heinze HJ, Düzel E (2010), Brain Res., 1308:124-136
Different methods to define utility functions yield similar results but engage different neural processes.
Heldmann M, Vogt B, Heinze HJ, Münte TF (2009), Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience; 3:43
Counteracting Incentive Sensitization in Severe Alcohol Dependence using Deep Brain Stimulation of the Nucleus Accumbens: Clinical and Basic Science Aspects.
Heinze HJ, Heldmann M, Voges J, Hinrichs H, Marco-Pallares J, Hopf JM, Müller UJ, Galazky I, Sturm V, Bogerts B, Münte TF (2009), Front Hum Neurosci., 3:22.
The human brain: the final journey.
Knight RT, Heinze HJ (2008), Front Neurosci., 2(1):15-6.
Neural markers of inhibition in human memory retrieval.
Wimber M, Bäuml KH, Bergström Z, Markopoulos G, Heinze HJ, Richardson-Klavehn A (2008), J Neurosci., 28(50):13419-13427.
Mesolimbic functional magnetic resonance imaging activations during reward anticipation correlate with reward-related ventral striatal dopamine release.
Schott BH, Minuzzi L, Krebs RM, Elmenhorst D, Lang M, Winz OH, Seidenbecher CI, Coenen HH, Heinze HJ, Zilles K, Düzel E, Bauer A (2008), J Neurosci., 28(52):14311-14319.
Unconscious determinants of free decisions in the human brain.
Soon CS, Brass M, Heinze HJ, Haynes JD (2008), Nat Neurosci., 11(5):543-545.
Rapid recurrent processing gates awareness in primary visual cortex.
Boehler CN, Schoenfeld MA, Heinze HJ, Hopf JM (2008), PNAS, 105(25):8742-8747.
Ageing and early-stage Parkinson`s disease affect separable neural mechanisms of mesolimbic reward processing.
Schott BH, Niehaus L, Wittmann BC, Schütze H, Seidenbecher CI, Heinze HJ, Düzel E (2007), Brain, 130:2412-2424.