INVESTIGATING THE VALIDITY OF PRENATAL INSULTS AS RISK FACTORS FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA.

Funding Activity

Website
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/208937

Funding Status
Closed

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Funded Activity Summary

Schizophrenia is one of the most devastating of human mental disorders affecting about 1% of the population. The cause of this disorder is not known but it seems certain that it will involve genetic and environmental factors. An adverse environmental factor could be a reduced supply of oxygen and nutrients to a baby during pregnancy. In guinea pigs we aim to investigate whether disruption to the normal supply of oxygen and nutrients to the fetus disrupts the normal fine structure and chemical make up of the brain and gives rise to long-lasting structural and neurochemical changes in adolescent animals, which resemble changes found in the brains of patients with schizophrenia. We will also assess whether behavioural responses of compromised animals are altered in tests that parallel disturbances seen in patients with schizophrenia. Such abnormal brain development could create an underlying vulnerability in the brain, predisposing individuals with risk factors such as genetic inheritance to develop the symptoms of schizophrenia in later life perhaps only after the complete formation of nerve pathways involved in higher brain functioning. If guinea pigs that have been subjected to low oxygen levels during pregnancy show sustained changes in the structure and neurochemistry in regions of the brain that are altered in patients with schizophrenia it would suggest that these long lasting disturbances could result from problems during pregnancy. Thus, this would support the idea that abnormal brain development during pregnancy is one of the underlying causes of schizophrenia.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2002

End Date: 01-01-2004

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $201,100.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Psychiatry

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

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Other Keywords

Aetiology of schizophrenia | Behavioural brain abnormalities | Brain disorders originating during pregnancy | Early neurodevelopmental hypothesis | Hypoxia and malnutrition during pregnancy | Neurochemical brain abnormalities | Structural brain abnormalities

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