dol is able to reduce cortical volume and alter microglial cell dynamics in naïve and inflamed tissue. it will be important to translate these findings to a clinical ... ders, the specific alterations in prefrontal gaba circuit function and their ...... Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital, Belmont, ...... We attempted to.
Animal: Neuroanatomy; Neurochemistry S1
Animal: Neuroanatomy; Neurochemistry The effects of antipsychotic treatment on brain volume, inflammation and glutamate signaling genes. Peter Bloomfield; Oliver D Howes, PhD DM; Vincenzo De Paola MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, Imperial College London, Lon, United Kingdom Background: Brain volume loss and elevated microglial alongside other inflammatory markers are seen in schizophrenia. There are also known glutamatergic signal disruptions, evident from magnetic resonance spectroscopy in patients. However, the role of antipsychotic treatment in this is unknown. Methods: We administered chronic haloperidol (0.05 mg/kg/day) or placebo drug pellets to either naïve (n= 8 and n=12 respectively) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) systemically inflamed (n= 6 and n=6 respectively) rats (4 doses at 1mg/kg). Blood was taken for peripheral inflammatory marker analysis. Confocal images of cortical tissue stained for microglia (Iba-1) and nuclei (DAPI) were analysed, using custom Cell Profiler and Fiji programs. Microglial cell densities, cell body areas, process complexity and cell body stain intensity were the main outcome measures of analysis. We measured glutamatergic signalling associated gene expression to determine the effects of antipsychotic medication on these transcriptional events Results: Whole brain volume was reduced in naïve rats treated with haloperidol (17% reduction p
