MAPPING THE MTL MEMORY SYSTEM IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

这个子项目是许多研究子项目中利用 资源由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供。子项目和 调查员(PI)可能从NIH的另一个来源获得了主要资金， 并因此可以在其他清晰的条目中表示。列出的机构是 该中心不一定是调查人员的机构。 这份职业发展计划将支持应聘者掌握新的成像方法来研究精神分裂症特定大脑系统的多方面的目标。这一系统方法将使我们能够更深入地了解内侧颞叶(MTL)记忆系统(海马区、海马区和大脑皮层)介导的陈述性记忆(DM)损害的机制。来自经验丰富的调查人员的指导，最先进的成像设备，以及教学培训提供了实现这些目标所需的基础设施。加州大学洛杉矶分校丰富的制度环境进一步支持了候选人的长期计划，即利用成像方法开发一个富有成效的独立研究计划，以更好地了解神经精神障碍中大脑障碍的病理生理基础。精神分裂症患者的糖尿病损害和海马体体积缩小特别容易受到疾病过程的影响，并表明疾病的遗传易感性。然而，目前尚不确定陈述性记忆(DM)的异常是否反映了局部脑活动和/或功能连接的障碍，以及此类损伤是否与该神经网络内的结构异常有关。为了解决这些问题，候选人将结合结构、功能和扩散张量成像，绘制精神分裂症患者、患者的一级亲属和健康对照受试者的MTL记忆系统的结构和功能异常，这些受试者是通过NIMH的一项更大的研究--精神分裂症易感因素的传递--招募的。该研究计划包括先进的结构图像分析技术以及功能磁共振成像(FMRI)和扩散张量成像(DTI)策略，这些策略将被用于分离包括精神分裂症陈述性记忆缺陷在内的MTL障碍的结构和功能相关性，并确定存在遗传易感性效应。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. This career development plan will support the candidate's goals of mastering new imaging methodologies to investigate multiple aspects of a specific brain system in schizophrenia. This systems approach will allow a deeper understanding of the mechanisms associated with declarative memory (DM) impairments that are mediated by the medial temporal lobe (MTL) memory system (hippocampus, parahippocampal region and cerebral cortex). Guidance from accomplished investigators, state-of-the-art imaging facilities, and didactic training provide the infrastructure needed to achieve these goals. The rich institutional environment at UCLA further supports the candidate's long-term plan to develop a productive and independent program of research using imaging methods to better understand the pathophysiological underpinnings of brain disturbances in neuropsychiatric disorders. DM impairments and hippocampal volume reductions are shown particularly vulnerable to disease processes in schizophrenia and to indicate a genetic predisposition towards the illness. However, it is uncertain whether abnormalities of declarative memory (DM) reflect disturbances in regional brain activity and/or in functional connectivity and whether such impairments relate to structural abnormalities within this neural network. To address these questions, the candidate will combine structural, functional and diffusion tensor imaging to map structural and functional abnormalities of the MTL memory system in schizophrenia patients, first-degree relatives of patients and healthy comparison subjects recruited through a larger NIMH study, "Transmission of Vulnerability Factors for Schizophrenia." The research plan includes advanced structural image analysis techniques and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) strategies that will be employed to dissociate the structural and functional correlates of MTL disturbances including declarative memory deficits in schizophrenia and to establish the presence of genetic liability effects.