Treat the schizophreniaby resynchronizing neurons. This is the track seriously considered by Swiss researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE). Their conviction is based on the results of an experiment on mice with this psychiatric disease.
For several years, scientists have been working on the hypothesis of a desynchronization of the neural networks at the origin of this pathology. But the cellular cause remained unknown. It is this cellular mechanism that interested researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE). The team succeeded in deciphering the cellular process leading to the desynchronization of neurons. In a sick adult mouse, they succeeded in suppressing the abnormal behaviors associated with schizophrenia by correcting this neuronal “organizational defect” in the hippocampus, a cerebral region involved in particular in memory.
The researchers started from the observation that in the brains of sick mice, neurons exhibit the same level of activity as healthy mice. On the other hand, the nerve cells of schizophrenics turn out to be totally incoordinated, as incapable of communicating correctly with each other.
Stimulate inhibitory neurons to suppress symptoms
“The organization and synchronization of neural networks is done through the intervention of subpopulations of inhibitory neurons, including parvalbumin neurons,” says Alan Carleton, professor in the Department of Fundamental Neurosciences at the Faculty of Medicine of the UNIGE and author of the works, on the UNIGE website. “However, in this animal model of schizophrenia, these neurons are much less active. Without the correct inhibition which makes it possible to control and structure the electrical activity of the other neurons in the network, anarchy reigns supreme.”
To restore order in these networks, the researchers therefore stimulated these dysfunctional inhibitory neurons. This resynchronization, necessary for normal functioning of the neural networks, worked: it made it possible to suppress symptoms linked to schizophrenia, in this case in this case the lack of hyperactivity and the memory deficit.
A therapeutic avenue even in adulthood
For researchers, this discovery could lead to a therapeutic intervention including in adulthood. “Schizophrenia manifests itself […] at the end of adolescence, although the alterations are most likely present from the neurodevelopmental stage. According to our work, reinforcing the action of a weakly active inhibitory neuron, even after having passed the periods of cerebral development, could be sufficient to restore the proper functioning of neural networks and make certain pathological behaviors disappear “, suggests Alan Carleton.
The results of this work were published in the journal Nature neuroscience.
Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder disabling which occurs between 15 and 25 years most often. Its symptoms vary from patient to patient: feeling of persecution (paranoia), megalomania, delusions, visual or auditory hallucinations. It leads to social isolation and cognitive difficulties such as memory problems or difficulty planning simple tasks. In France, 600,000 people have schizophrenia.
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