Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric illness that affects one percent of the population. It is among the top ten causes of disability worldwide and results in enormous economic costs to the Canadian health care system. Various abnormalities in brain structure are frequently observed in patients with schizophrenia, the most common of which are reductions in volume. Importantly, volume deficits are commonly associated with increased symptom severity and functional decline. That being said, the mechanism through which these losses occur is currently unknown. Glutamate is a brain chemical that can be toxic when present at abnormally high concentrations. Previous literature suggests increased glutamate levels in early and untreated schizophrenia, although levels normalize following treatment with medication. Our study aims to explore whether glutamate levels are linked with brain loss in a region referred to as the striatum, which is highly involved in schizophrenia. Having previously observed suggestions of a relationship between increased glutamate and volume loss in an untreated group of patients who were early in their illness, we will now investigate this relationship in a sample of medicated patients who have had schizophrenia for a significant duration of time. We hypothesize that there will be no relationship between glutamate and volume, marking a distinct change from the untreated state. Glutamate levels and brain volume will be measured using non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging techniques, which have been previously used to show anomalies in both glutamate and brain volume in patients with schizophrenia. Our results will be highly impactful for schizophrenia researchers by leading to an improved understanding of the illness. Additionally, this study will benefit the Canadian health care system, as well as Canadian patients and families affected by schizophrenia, by contributing to the development of therapeutic strategies that protect against brain volume loss.