Project Summary

Kristine Roy, Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2006) of Children’s Hospital/Harvard University, plans to use an animal model to study how problems with oligodendrocytes, cells that wrap an insulating fatty sheath called myelin around nerve cells, may play a role in schizophrenia. Recent evidence suggests that alterations in these cells and in the myelin sheath are implicated in schizophrenia. In fact, neureglin 1 (NRG 1), which has been linked to schizophrenia, and its receptors (erb receptors) are involved in oligodendrocyte growth and their ability to produce myelin. Dr. Roy hypothesizes that oligodendrocyte changes can lead to behaviors associated with schizophrenia. In this proposed project, she will investigate whether alterations in the NRG1-erbB pathway in an animal affect oligodendrocyte function and animal behavior. She has already found that animals with NRG1-erbB system changes have thinner myelin sheaths, slower optic-nerve signal conduction, and increased amphetamine sensitivity. She now aims to study the dopamine system—also implicated in schizophrenia—in these animals, too.

Program Area: SCHIZOPHRENIA/PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS\Schizophrenia

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