Abnormal interactions between the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex in rodent models of schizophrenia

大脑就像管弦乐队。这两个部门又细分为许多具有各自作用的专门部门，但所有部门的活动必须协调，以便整体正常运作。管弦乐队中的音乐家通过跟随指挥的指挥来保持时间;以此类推，在复杂的行为过程中，不同大脑区域的神经元如何协调它们的活动？电生理学使我们能够记录神经元交流的电脉冲。我们发现，许多神经元群，就像管弦乐队的各个部分，都表现出有节奏的活动。连接的神经网络中的节奏是相互协调的，但只有在需要包含它们的大脑区域之间进行通信的行为期间。因此，有节奏的活动可以作为大脑？神经元是一个神经元的导体，它允许不同的神经元群在不同的时间相互交流。这项研究将使用涉及学习、记忆和决策的三个大脑区域的记录，以了解它们在行为过程中如何相互作用。这三个区域在精神分裂症患者中都有受损的迹象。我们怀疑大脑的行为就像一个？嘈杂的管弦乐队精神分裂症期间：协调时间的崩溃会导致认知和行为异常，因为不同的大脑区域不能保持彼此的时间。2我们可以在大鼠和小鼠中建立精神分裂症的模型。例如，如果我们给动物服用氯胺酮（？特别K？），他们会出现类似精神病患者的行为问题。通过记录这些动物的神经元，我们可以描述伴随着行为崩溃的协调神经活动的崩溃。然后，通过比较这些动物模型的电生理学与临床电生理学（人类神经元的脉冲可以通过头皮记录为EEG，或者？脑电波？），我们可以开始了解精神分裂症患者的大脑出了什么问题，最重要的是，我们可以开始测试最终将其纠正的治疗方法。

Brains are like orchestras. Both are subdivided into numerous, specialized sections with individual roles, yet the activity of all sections must be coordinated in order for the whole to function properly. Musicians in an orchestra keep time by following the lead of their conductor; by analogy, how do neurons of different brain regions coordinate their activity during the complex repertoire of behaviour?Electrophysiology allows us to record the electrical impulses through which neurons communicate. We find that many groups of neurons, like the sections of an orchestra, show rhythmic activity. Rhythms in connected neural networks are coordinated with one another, but only during behaviour that requires communication between the brain regions that contain them. Thus rhythmic activity can act as the brain?s conductor, allowing different groups of neurons to communicate with one another at different times. This study will use recordings from three brain regions involved in learning and memory and decision-making to see how they interact during behaviour. All three of the regions in question show signs of damage in schizophrenic patients. We suspect that the brain behaves like a ?cacophonous orchestra? during schizophrenia: a breakdown of coordinated timing leads to cognitive and behavioural abnormalities because different brain regions do not keep time with one another.We can model schizophrenia in rats and mice. For example, if we give animals drugs like ketamine (?Special K?), they develop behavioural problems like those in psychotic patients. By recording from the neurons of these animals, we can characterize the breakdown in coordinated neural activity that accompanies their breakdown in behaviour. Then, by comparing electrophysiology from these animal models with electrophysiology from the clinic (the impulses of human neurons can be recorded through the scalp as EEG, or ?brain waves?), we can begin to understand what goes wrong in the schizophrenic brain and, most importantly, begin to test therapies that will eventually put it right.