To do the experiment they first injected a virus into the MDs of some lab mice. The virus screws up the message sending neurons in the MD bringing the "chatter" back in 30 to 40 percent of those neurons. They did this because in people with schizophrenia the MD is very quiet. This was the best way to try to mimic that symptom. It has also been noted that patients with the disorder also have problems with short term memory and learning. Kellendonk and Gordon ran tests to challenge those aspects in particular. It turned out that this slight change in MD activity and communication was enough to fog the thinking of those mice. The mice had trouble with their usual maze exercise and with new rules to an old one. Records of neural activity showed that the hushed MD threw off prefrontal cortex activity as well. The gathered data suggests strongly that stifled communication with the prefrontal cortex could explain cognitive problems in people with schizophrenia. The article wraps up with a conclusion from Gordon which states, " perhaps we could design treatments that restore cognitive function."
This article stood out to me because of the connection to psychology. I always find that interesting and even the title screams that it could be used to help people with the disorder schizophrenia, a very intense disorder that I honestly don't know much about. The people who have it can experience symptoms of hallucination, delusion, and social disorders. This makes it very hard to function in society. It is terrifying for those living with it and their loved ones. There are, however, treatments to try that can mitigate the symptoms but no cure has been found. It's great to know that, though I am not personally affected by it in any way, more is being done to help those people who are. The idea of being able to change anything in the brain and how it functions is incredible to me. It is such a delicate and important organ, yet we have found ways to influence it.
(picture from http://srxawordonhealth.com/)
I thought that this article was very interesting. I never really thought that mice could also be affected by disorders such as schizophrenia. The information taken from these studies could be immensely helpful for coming up with reasoning as to why schizophrenia happens and better ways to treat it. Similar to what you said, the brain is such a complicated organ that it's amazing that we even have ways to change the way it works. Good job!
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting article, schizophrenia is a very scary mental illness. This article shows that eventhough people have invented all of these amazing inventions but we are still learning about ourselves and how we work. This may help scientists treat those with schizophrenia as it allowed them to see what parts of the brain are effected by this ailment. This is an illness that effects everyone from little kids to the elderly, as so many people have this it needs to be treated in very effective ways as this study can help us do.
ReplyDeleteGreat Job, Erica! I agree with that our brain is quite an interesting and vital organ that has many unique functions! You know, I've heard a lot about Schizophrenia in Decisions class. What fascinitated me in your blog post, is the fact that animals such as mice can be affected by this mental disorder. You mentioned that Dr.Gordon stated that designing treatments that restore cognitive function would be a solution that we could work on in the future. What kinds of treatments does he mean? A lot of the blog posts have been reading this quarter, focus on the brain and the interesting things that scientists find out about it. Hopefully, we will be able to find harmless and affective cures for mental diseases that weaken brain functions. The brain is such an interesting organ, and I enjoyed reading your blog post.
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