Earlier this semester, we listened to a talk by Dr. Wang about his research article, “Progressive deterioration of thalamic nuclei relates to cortical network decline in schizophrenia.” In his research, Dr. Wang compared the thalamic nuclei of healthy individuals to those with schizophrenia. They wanted to observe whether there was any differences in the thalamic nuclei of a healthy subject as opposed to one with schizophrenia. The subjects were chosen from a larger 2 year longitudinal study. The researchers utilized high dimension brain mapping in order to observe the thalamic nuclei. The researchers decided to focus on the thalamic nuclei because it is very important in the regulation of cognitive and emotional functions. Since people with schizophrenia have a neural impairment in regards to cognitive and emotional functions, it could be due to a deterioration of the thalamic nucleus. They focused on the deformation of areas of the thalamic nuclei that were directly related to these functions, specifically the mediodorsal, pulvinar, and anterior regions.
They discovered that the subjects with schizophrenia experienced greater volume loss than the healthy subjects. Specifically, there was a progressive deterioration of the mediodorsal and pulvinar regions over time. These findings allowed the researchers to propose a theory that abnormalities in schizophrenia subjects might develop along the thalamus from an anterior to posterior fashion. In conclusion, they determined that this progressive deterioration relates to the cortical decline present in those with schizophrenia, but it is not related to their behavioral changes.
A Scientific American article titled “Brain’s “Brakes” Suppress Unwanted Thoughts,” by Simon Makin relates to the previously discussed research article. In her article, Makin discusses the mechanism in which the brain suppresses unwanted thoughts. New research by neuroscientist Taylor Schmitz, at McGill University, suggests that many schizophrenia symptoms result from this mechanism not functioning properly. They discovered that when someone is attempting to suppress a thought, there is increased activity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which causes decreased activity in the hippocampus. A “stop” command from the PFC reduces activity in the hippocampus. This mechanism allows someone to suppress a thought. It is able to do this by using GABA, the brain’s primary inhibitory neurotransmitter. People with schizophrenia suffer from a defect in this mechanism, they are observed to have increased activity in their hippocampus. This may cause many of the symptoms of schizophrenia including hallucinations.
This study brings us one step closer to potentially finding a solution for those with schizophrenia. It gives us an area to specifically focus on in attempting to alleviate symptoms of schizophrenia. If we are able to discover how to fix this faulty mechanism in people with schizophrenia, then we might be able to drastically improve their way of life. One way of fixing it might be to increase the amount of GABA in people with schizophrenia. GABA is the main inhibitory neurotransmitter, so if we increase the amount of GABA, it might possibly be able to reduce the activity in the hippocampus which would then in turn decrease the hallucinations.
These two studies are directly related because they both describe specific areas of the brain that are affected by schizophrenia. The brain is physically impacted which causes many of the symptoms of schizophrenia. Each study however, researches different aspects of schizophrenia. Dr. Wang explored schizophrenia’s effects on the thalamic nuclei and how it relates to cortical decline. Makin’s article describes a different aspect of schizophrenia, the hallucinations and what underlying mechanism causes them. Dr. Wang’s research was unable to discover any new findings regarding behavioral changes while the research highlighted in the article was able to. Together, these two articles provide a more holistic view of just how schizophrenia affects the brain and how that manifests in a person.
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