The Conte Center for Schizophrenia Research

描述（由申请人提供）：这是一个新的精神分裂症研究中心的申请，该中心位于纽约大学医学院（NYUSoM）和附属的内森克莱恩精神病学研究所（NKI）。精神分裂症（SZ）与感觉处理缺陷有关，这是该疾病的一个核心组成部分，但尚未得到充分研究。在听觉系统中，患者表现出音调匹配和听觉失配负性（MMN）产生等基本过程的缺陷。在视觉系统中，患者表现出对比度增益和整合等过程的缺陷，这些缺陷导致了物体识别和面部识别等过程的高阶损伤。感觉缺陷可能与Nmethyl-的损伤有关

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is an application for a new Conte Center for Schizophrenia Research based at the New York University School of Medicine (NYUSoM) and the affiliated Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research (NKI). Schizophrenia (SZ) is associated with sensory processing deficits that represent a core, but understudied, connponent of the disorder. In the auditory system, patients show deficits in basic processes such as tone matching and auditory mismatch negativity (MMN) generation. In the visual system, patients show deficits in processes such as contrast gain and integration that contribute to higher order impairments in processes such as object recognition and face recognition. Sensory deficits may relate specifically to impairments in Nmethyl- D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-mediated neurotransmission, and are especially amenable to translational investigation using human and animal models. The Center consists of 6 projects and 3 cores, which build from pre-existing collaborations among Center investigators. Projects 1, 2 and 4 are based at NKI/NYSoM and utilize human (Javitt) and primate (Schroeder) neurophysiological, and human postmortem/laser capture microscopy/gene array (Ginsberg/Smiley) approaches to the study of sensory cortical dysfunction and impaired functional connectivity in SZ. Project 3 (Hlllyard) is based at UCSD and investigates modulatory processes underlying normal visual function. Project 5 (Cornblatt) is based at Zucker Hillside Hospital and investigates sensory processing dysfunction within the SZ prodrome. Finally, Project 6 (Weiser) is based at Sheba Hospital/Tel Aviv University and evaluates effectiveness of sarcosine (N-methylglycine), a naturally occurring NMDA agonist not currently available in the US. Cores are devoted to administration (Javitt), patient recruitment/assessment (Butler) and data management/biostatistics (Robinson/Petkova). Although traditional models of SZ focus on dopamine, more recent models focus on underlying glutamatergic dysfunction, and have received support from neurogenetic, imaging, and treatment studies, as well as challenge studies with putative NMDA antagonists. The overall goal of the Center is to develop new assessment and intervention approaches for schizophrenia based upon glutamatergic models