Project Summary

Esther Chapin Penick, Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2004) of Brown University, proposes studying in the rat the dopamine and GABA-producing neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of the brain, to get a better understanding of the pathology of schizophrenia. VTA contains dopamine-producing neurons and GABA-producing neurons, both of which project to other brain regions, such as the prefrontal cortex. GABA neurons can affect the output of dopamine. The first successful drugs to treat schizophrenia block dopamine, leading to the idea that excess dopamine led to the symptoms of the disorder. But new drugs act on other brain circuitry, so dopamine levels are not the only thing going on. In the proposed project, Dr. Penick will examine the basic properties of GABA synapses in normal rat brain, using electrophysiological recordings from individual dopamine and GABA neurons. She will then give the rat older and the newer atypical antipsychotic drugs and monitor their respective effects on the rat brain. By defining the characteristics of GABAnergic transmission in the dopaminergic region implicated in schizophrenia, Dr. Penick expects to increase understanding of the sites impaired in the disease and how drugs act on them.

Program Area: SCHIZOPHRENIA/PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS\Schizophrenia

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