Project Summary

Anil K. Malhotra, M.D., (Independent Investigator 2006) of the Zucker Hillside Hospital, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, notes that there is increasing evidence that a defect in the brain white matter plays a role in the development of schizophrenia. Novel developments in neuroimaging and genetics now offer new ways to test whether genetic variation within putative white matter genes influences brain white matter integrity. With the recent completion of the human HapMap project there is comprehensive information regarding variability within the genome including candidate genes for white matter integrity. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging technique that can be used to quantify white matter organization and orientation of fiber tracts in-vivo. Dr. Malhotra will densely map the following genes: the proteolipid protein 1, myelin/oligodendrocyte glycoprotein, myelin associated glycoprotein, 2',3'-cyclic nucleotidephosphodiesterase, and neuregulin 1 genes, to test the hypothesis that variation within these genes influences white matter integrity in patients with schizophrenia and healthy volunteers as assessed by DTI. These results will provide the first direct test of the hypothesis that variation within these genes influence white matter integrity in the human brain.

Program Area: SCHIZOPHRENIA/PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS\Schizophrenia

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