Project Summary

Rajesh Narendran, M.B. (Young Investigator 2005) of the Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, Inc., at the Nathan Kline Institute at New York University, plans to use PET imaging to study dopamine action in the brain after treatment with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in healthy people and individuals with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia most likely involves dysregulation in dopamine (DA), a neurotransmitter. DA release is regulated by communication between the prefrontal cortex (a superficial brain region that is involved with organizing and planning of day-to-day activities) and the striatum (a deeper brain structure where abnormal DA release has been observed in schizophrenia and alcoholism). It has been shown that rTMS of the prefrontal cortex enables DA release in the human striatum, as measured by displacement of a PET radiotracer. This study will further investigate the prefrontal cortex and the striatum connection, first in healthy subjects and then in patients with schizophrenia. Understanding abnormalities in this connection may lead to better treatment for schizophrenia. Previously, the only way to probe the DA circuit was to give a drug challenge and use PET imaging to look at the effect of DA release. A problem with drug challenges is that they cannot give information about the connectivity of the various circuits involved in controlling DA release. rTMS provides a noninvasive way of stimulating the brain which when coupled with PET imaging allows us to probe the relationship between brain circuitry and DA release in health and disease.

Program Area: SCHIZOPHRENIA/PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS\Schizophrenia\Structural Biology

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