This project will examine whether or not individuals with schizophrenia who smoke have higher symptom levels and more impaired sensory gating than those individuals with schizophrenia who do not smoke.
Clozapine is the most efficacious treatment for schizophrenia. This may be due to its ability to increase acetylcholine levels. Acetylcholine is involved with in every day processes such as motivation, pleasure and thinking. Many individuals with schizophrenia smoke tobacco and smoking destroys the ability of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor to function, a process called desensitization. Smoking may therefore interfere with clozapine's effect. One way to test whether nicotinic receptor desensitization interferes with clozapine's effect is to look at how the brain processes repeated and unimportant sounds. This is called sensory gating and it is dependent on functional nicotinic receptors. If a smoker taking clozapine has a worse sensory gating than a nonsmoker, this is support for the hypothesis that smoking desensitizes nicotinic receptors and makes the illness worse. I will recruit 104 individuals with schizophrenia and examine variables collected from their illness history, assess their sensory gating, and check drug levels to see how they relate to symptom levels. A greater understanding of the effect of chronic smoking on the nicotinic acetylcholine system is necessary to maximize the potential benefit of current and future treatments of schizophrenia involving this system. It may also identify an additional harmful effect of smoking.
Preceptor Information |
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| Name: | Laura Martin |
| Department: | Psychiatry |
| Location: | 4200 E. 9th Avenue Box C268-71 |
| CPH Building, Room 3G0-C | |
| Contact: | 303-315-1554 |
| laura.martin@uchsc.edu | |
| Faculty/Lab Website: | www.uchsc.edu/psychiatry/brainimaging |
Position Information |
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| Openings: | 1 |
| Funding: | No |