Response to deep brain stimulation in the medial prefrontal cortex in a rat model of schizophrenia: in vivo assessment of brain glucose metabolism.

The work included in this project is framed in one of the lines of research conducted at the “Laboratorio de Imagen Médica de la Unidad de Medicina y Cirugía Experimental” (UMCE) of Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón and the Bioengineering and Aerospace Department of Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Its ambition is to develop a major efficient treatment for schizophrenia.

The general objective of the present study is to evaluate the brain glucose metabolism of an animal model of schizophrenia when Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is applied in the medial Prefrontal Cortex (mPFC). Adult offspring of dams treated with the immune activating agent poly I:C, have undergone a bilateral stereotaxic electrode implantation into the mPFC. After a post-operative recovery period, functional and structural images were acquired with a PET/CT scanner before and during the stimulation. The images were analyzed to examine the differences in brain glucose metabolism with a statistical parametric mapping. Results showed that regions of the brain that presented an abnormal activity in schizophrenic animals, the Inferior Colicullus and the Raphe Nucleus, that are related to behaviors that are reduced in schizophrenia, were normalized during the treatment with DBS. In conclusion, at the expense of further research, this study ameliorates behavioral deficits as well as abnormal activity in certain regions of the brain, hence opening the door to future approaches for the treatment of schizophrenia.