Multimodal neuroimaging study of relational learning in schizophrenia

描述(申请人提供)：精神分裂症是一种严重衰弱的精神疾病，困扰着大约1%的人口，是一个严重的公共卫生问题，无法治愈。认知缺陷是这种疾病的核心特征，学习和记忆障碍尤其严重。严重学习记忆障碍患者的心理社会功能和生活质量较差。不幸的是，精神分裂症的学习和记忆障碍没有很好的治疗方法。因此，有必要更好地了解精神分裂症学习和记忆失败和成功的神经生物学机制。这些机制是开发新的治疗方法的潜在目标。这项拟议的研究将使用多模式神经成像方法来研究精神分裂症患者的关系学习。功能磁共振成像(FMRI)将用于研究精神分裂症患者在关系学习过程中的神经激活。扩散张量成像(DTI)和质子磁共振波谱(1H-MRS)将被用来帮助确定精神分裂症神经激活模式的改变是否与结构白质连接或神经化学有关。与精神分裂症患者学习表现异质性有关的神经生物学机制将被描述。第三个目标是通过检查一级亲属来检查与精神分裂症的关系学习相关的改变的神经生物学是否有遗传影响。这将是第一次使用三种神经成像技术来研究精神分裂症患者的关系学习。与单独使用任何一种技术相比，这些技术的结合有望为精神分裂症患者与关系学习相关的改变的神经生物学机制提供更全面的图景。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Schizophrenia is a severely debilitating psychiatric disorder that afflicts approximately 1% of the population and is a serious public health problem with no cure. Cognitive deficits are a core feature of the illness with learning and memory deficits being particularly disabling. Patients with severe learning and memory impairments have poorer psychosocial function and life quality. Unfortunately, there are no good treatments for learning and memory impairments in schizophrenia. Consequently, there is a need for a better understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms of learning and memory failure and success in schizophrenia. These mechanisms are potential targets for novel treatment development. The proposed study will use multimodal neuroimaging methods to investigate relational learning in schizophrenia. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) will be used to investigate neural activation during relational learning in schizophrenia. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) will be used to help determine whether altered neural activation patterns in schizophrenia are related to compromised structural white matter connections or neurochemistry. The neurobiological mechanisms related to the heterogeneity of learning performance in schizophrenia will be characterized. The third aim is to examine if altered neurobiology associated with relational learning in schizophrenia has a genetic influence by examining first-degree relatives. This will be the first study to use three neuroimaging techniques to investigate relational learning in schizophrenia. The combination of these techniques is expected to provide a more comprehensive picture of altered neurobiological mechanisms associated with relational learning in schizophrenia than any one technique alone.