Brain macromolecules in schizophrenia

项目摘要 精神分裂症是一种严重衰弱的精神疾病，大约1%的普通患者患有精神分裂症。 这是一个严重的公共卫生问题，无法治愈。主要的兴奋性和抑制性 神经递质系统谷氨酸和GABA参与了精神分裂症的病理生理学。更好的 对这些系统的了解有助于开发新的治疗方法。 精神分裂症和相关疾病。唯一一种非侵入性的方法可以在体内测量这些 化学物质是质子磁共振波谱(MRS)，但在短回声时间内进行准确测量 是有问题的，因为污染了大脑大分子信号。虽然大分子被认为是 在MRS研究中，滋扰信号实际上可能是有生理意义的。脑部大分子是 多发性硬化症、中风、脑瘤和脑大分子在啮齿动物模型中增加 发炎。这个R21项目解决了MRS对精神分裂症的研究面临的一个主要问题，即 精神分裂症患者的大分子是不同的。还没有关于大脑的研究 精神分裂症中的大分子。这个项目将研究大脑区域的大分子差异。 已知与精神分裂症的病理生理学有关，并显示出MRS的差异。这个 还将研究脑大分子与临床和认知症状的关系。这个 该项目的结果将使人们更好地理解大脑大分子在精神分裂症中的作用。 如果大分子在患者和对照组之间不同，这些措施可以作为生物标志物 他的病。这将为更明确的R01研究提供动力。如果大分子没有不同 在患者和对照组之间，这些信息仍然非常重要，并将为研究社区提供 相信MRS代谢物的差异不是由于不同人群之间的大分子水平的差异 组。该项目还将提供来自多个大脑区域的大脑大分子光谱，所有这些都已获得 从患有精神分裂症的成年人到研究界，以帮助进行光谱分析。

Project Summary Schizophrenia is a severely debilitating psychiatric disorder that afflicts approximately 1% of the general population and is a serious public health problem with no cure. The major excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitter systems, glutamate and GABA, are involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. A better understanding of these systems could aid in the development of novel interventions for the treatment of schizophrenia and related disorders. The only noninvasive method that provides in vivo measurement of these chemicals is proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), but accurate measurement at short echo times is problematic due to contaminating brain macromolecule signals. Although macromolecules are regarded as a nuisance signal in MRS research, they actually may be physiological meaningful. Brain macromolecules are higher in multiple sclerosis, stroke, brain tumors, and brain macromolecules increase in rodent models of brain inflammation. This R21 project addresses a major problem faced by MRS studies of schizophrenia, whether macromolecules are different in patients with schizophrenia. There are no investigations of brain macromolecules in schizophrenia. This project will investigate macromolecule differences in brain regions known to be involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and that have shown MRS differences. The relationship between brain macromolecules and clinical and cognitive symptoms will also be investigated. The results of this project will generate a better understanding of the role of brain macromolecules in schizophrenia. If macromolecules are different between patients and controls, these measures may serve as biomarkers of the illness. This will provide impetus for a more definitive R01 study. If macromolecules are not different between patients and controls, this information is still very important and will provide the research community with confidence that MRS metabolite differences are not due to differences in macromolecule levels among groups. This project will also provide brain macromolecule spectra from multiple brain regions, all acquired from adults with schizophrenia to the research community to aid in spectral analysis.