Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

"Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a complex and debilitating mental illness and is increasingly regarded as a developmental disorder, manifesting only after adolescence. In recent decades, clinical high risk (CHR) individuals have been identified; many of which will develop full blown SCZ. This raises the need to develop safe and effective methods to prevent the emergence of psychosis. Given the lack of effective pharmaceutical interventions available, efforts are turning towards using animal models to screen novel treatment/prevention strategies; using biomarkers and mechanisms related to the human condition. This project aims to use a preclinical model to create new intervention strategies for CHR youth. It is thought that the stress of adolescence precipitates psychotic symptoms in CHR youth. Animal models involving prenatal manipulations, mimicking viral infections during pregnancy, can be used to mimic this. I will be using a modified prenatal immune activation model (LPS during pregnancy) combined with stress activation during adolescence and detailed behavioural analyses to test specific interventions prior to adolescence. I will investigate potential preventive effects of ultramicronized palmitoylethanolamide (PEA), a natural and safe substance, and associated CB2 and PPAR-alpha mediated mechanisms, as the endocannabinoid system is critical for neural development, neuroinflammation and neuroprotection. Using electroencephalography, when individuals with SCZ are presented with an auditory stimulus there is a reduction in auditory event-related potentials. This is called mismatch negativity (MMN) and is a common biomarker for SCZ. I hypothesize that LPS will induce juvenile behavioural deficits and MMN, and PEA administration preadolescence will mitigate or block these deficits."