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Published on: March 2, 2018
Postnatal developmental trajectories of neural circuits in the primate prefrontal cortex: identifying sensitive
1Medical Scientist Training Program, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Insights
Schizophrenia involves cognitive neurodevelopmental issues, particularly in working memory, linked to prefrontal cortex circuit changes. Environmental factors during development may impact these circuits, offering insights into schizophrenia risk.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
Background:
- Schizophrenia is a cognitive neurodevelopmental disorder.
- Working memory deficits are a key feature, linked to dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) dysfunction.
- Environmental exposures during development are implicated in schizophrenia risk.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the development of glutamatergic and GABA-ergic circuits in the macaque monkey prefrontal cortex.
- To explore how these developmental trajectories inform sensitive periods for environmental insults relevant to schizophrenia.
- To understand how environmental exposures might alter dlPFC circuit development, leading to schizophrenia-related abnormalities.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on prefrontal cortex circuit development in macaque monkeys.
- Analysis of glutamatergic and GABA-ergic circuit maturation.
- Correlation of developmental trajectories with environmental risk factors for schizophrenia.
Main Results:
- Macaque monkeys offer a valuable model for studying prefrontal cortex maturation.
- Detailed understanding of glutamatergic and GABA-ergic circuit development in the dlPFC is crucial.
- Environmental exposures can disrupt neurodevelopmental trajectories.
Conclusions:
- The developmental trajectories of prefrontal cortical circuits in macaques can illuminate sensitive periods for schizophrenia risk.
- Understanding these periods is key to identifying how environmental factors contribute to schizophrenia pathophysiology.
- This research provides a framework for investigating environmental influences on brain development in relation to schizophrenia.
Abstract:
Schizophrenia is a disorder of cognitive neurodevelopment with characteristic abnormalities in working memory attributed, at least in part, to alterations in the circuitry of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Various environmental exposures from conception through adolescence increase risk for the illness, possibly by altering the developmental trajectories of prefrontal cortical circuits. Macaque monkeys provide an excellent model system for studying the maturation of prefrontal cortical circuits. Here, we review the development of glutamatergic and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic circuits in macaque monkey prefrontal cortex and discuss how these trajectories may help to identify sensitive periods during which environmental exposures, such as those associated with increased risk for schizophrenia, might lead to the types of abnormalities in prefrontal cortical function present in schizophrenia.
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