Výsledky projektu Narušení vizuální salience a pozornosti u pacientů se schizofrenií

Animální studie byla odeslány do časopisu Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry (impact factor 5.06) a čeká na recenzní posudek.

Abstract
The present study aimed to examine a weakly electric fish Gnathonemus petersii (G. petersii) as a candidate model organism of glutamatergic theory of schizophrenia. The idea of G. petersii elevating the modelling of schizophrenia symptoms is based on the fish’s electrolocation and electrocommunication abilities. Fish were exposed to the NMDA antagonist ketamine in two distinct series differing in the dose of ketamine. The maim finding revealed ketamine-induced disruption of the relationship between electric signalling and behaviour indicating impairment of fish navigation. Moreover, lower doses of ketamine significantly increased locomotion and erratic movement and higher doses of ketamine reduced the number of electric organ discharges indicating successful induction of positive schizophrenia-like symptoms and disruption of fish navigation. Additionally, a low dose of haloperidol was used to test the normalisation of the positive symptoms to suggest a predictive validity of the model. However, though successfully induced, positive symptoms were not normalised using the low dose of haloperidol; hence, more doses of the antipsychotic need to be examined to confirm the predictive validity of the model.

Visual perception is one of the basic tools for exploring the world. However, in schizophrenia, this modality is disrupted. So far, there has been no clear answer as to whether the disruption occurs primarily within the brain or in the precortical areas of visual perception (the retina, visual pathways, and lateral geniculate nucleus [LGN]). A web-based comprehensive search of peer-reviewed journals was conducted based on various keyword combinations including schizophrenia, saliency, visual cognition, visual pathways, retina, and LGN. Articles were chosen with respect to topic relevance. Searched databases included Google Scholar, PubMed, and Web of Science. This review describes the precortical circuit and the key changes in biochemistry and pathophysiology that affect the creation and characteristics of the retinal signal as well as its subsequent modulation and processing in other parts of this circuit. Changes in the characteristics of the signal and the misinterpretation of visual stimuli associated with them may, as a result, contribute to the development of schizophrenic disease.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41537-022-00237-9#citeas