Project Summary

Anita Ramani Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2005) of New York University, proposes using a new imaging technique, called Quantitative Magnetic Transfer Imaging (qMTI), to detect subtle changes in the myelin sheath that surrounds the axons in the brains of schizophrenics. Post-mortem studies of schizophrenics suggest abnormalities of the myelin sheath surrounding axons, and reduction of the oligodendrocyte proteins that produce the myelin sheath. But there has not been an imaging technique that could detect these changes in patients until now. Dr. Ramani developed qMTI that is capable of, for the first time, of detecting subtle alterations in the distribution of myelin. She has applied qMTI to characterizing lesions in multiple sclerosis and is now proposing to extend this to schizophrenia. Since MT imaging allows the assessment of protons tightly bound to macromolecular structures, such as myelin, MTI measurements should allow for the quantification of alterations in myelin distribution in schizophrenia. She hypothesizes that structural and biophysical damage associated with myelin content alterations in schizophrenia may be reflected as differences in parameters between schizophrenic subjects and healthy controls, even in the absence of measurable gross volume changes. She believes that qMTI measurements in patients with schizophrenia will be more sensitive than currently available methodologies and provide an improved means to measure early changes in the myelin integrity.

Program Area: SCHIZOPHRENIA/PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS\Schizophrenia\Structural Biology

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