Vollenweider
Fakultäten » Medizinische Fakultät » Psychiatrische Universitätsklinik » Affektive Erkrankungen und Allgemeinpsychiatrie Zürich Ost, Klinik für » Prof. Dr. Daniel Hell (emeritiert) » Vollenweider
Completed research project
| Title / Titel | Studies of functional neuroanatomy of sensorimotor gating in unmedicated first episode schizophrenia patients using H215O-PET | ||||||
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| Abstract (PDF, 14 KB) | |||||||
| Summary / Zusammenfassung | Recent brain imaging and neuropathological studies in humans suggest that fuctional disturbances within cortico-striato-thalamic circuitry may underlay the deficits in sensorimotor gating (PPI) in chronic schizophrenia. Moreover, preliminary data of our group indicate that PPI deficits in schizophrenia are reversed, at least in part, by treatment with atypical but not with typical antipsychotic medication (Leumann et al, 2002). However, the functional correlates of PPI deficits in first episode schizophrenic patients and its putative normalisation by antipsychotic medication have not yet been investigated using with brain imaging techniques (Positron Emission Tomography, PET). The primary aim of the present project is to allocate functional alterations in brain activity underlying prepulse inhibition (PPI) in unmedicated first episode schizophrenic patients (n=15) by means of [H215O]PET. The second aim is to explore the effects of atypical medications on PPI deficits and brain activation. The patients will also be studied a second time (one year after the initial assessment) together with age and sex matched controls. On the long run, further studies in this vein may lead to a further characterization of subgroups of schizophrenic patients and lead to more specific treatments, improvements of outcome and quality of life. |
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| Publications / Publikationen | Vollenweider, F. X., Benz, M. A., Hell, D., and Ludewig, K. (2004) Brain activation during sensorimotor gating in first-episode schizophrenia: Relevance to symptoms and information processing. The Journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists 19[Suppl 1], S28. 2004. | ||||||
| Keywords / Suchbegriffe | functional brain imaging, schizophrenia research, sensorimotor gating, Key words: sensorimotor gating, prepulse inhibition (PPI), frontocortico-striato-thalamic loops, positron emission tomography (PET), first episode schizophrenia, atypical antipsychotics | ||||||
| Project leadership and contacts / Projektleitung und Kontakte |
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| Funding source(s) / Unterstützt durch |
SNF (Personen- und Projektförderung), Foundation NARSAD (USA) , EMDO Stiftung, Hartmann-Müller Stiftung |
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| In collaboration with / In Zusammenarbeit mit |
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| Duration of Project / Projektdauer | Oct 2004 to May 2008 |