Project Summary

Paul Daniel Arnold, M.D. (Young Investigator 2004) of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the University of Toronto, plans to use genetic analyses and neuroimaging to study possible associations between potential obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) gene variants and abnormal brain circuitry for the neurotransmitter glutamate. Dr. Arnold has found correlations between certain genetic variants and OCD and a collaborator has shown with neuroimaging that children with OCD have an abnormality involving glutamate. In the project, Dr. Arnold will try to determine if brain circuits that cause OCD result from inherited variations in genes affecting glutamate. He plans to analyze a large sample of OCD families to determine if certain gene variants associated with glutamate transmission are associated with the illness. He also will look at early-onset OCD families to see if some variants are relevant to this group. He will then determine if identified gene variants are associated with specific neuroimaging abnormalities in the OCD circuit using a sample of children with OCD. Understanding genetic factors in OCD could lead to new treatments, earlier diagnosis and possible prevention of the disease.

Program Area: ANXIETY DISORDERS\Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

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