Neurobiology of the social environment
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The neural mechanisms linking psychotic disorders and the social environment
IRAS ID
198476
Contact name
R McCutcheon
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
6 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Schizophrenia is a chronic, disabling illness. Positron emission tomography (PET) has shown that dopamine imbalances are part of the underlying biology of the illness.
Animal research shows that brain regions called the amygdala and the cortex coordinate dopamine release during acute stress. When the relationship between those regions is disrupted the dopamine system becomes unbalanced in a fashion similar to that observed in schizophrenia. This has not been tested in humans.
Schizophrenia is more common in people with exposure to stressors including migration, city living and childhood trauma. I performed a fMRI brain scanning study comparing healthy people that had experienced these stressors with those that had not. This showed changes in the amygdala-cortex relationship associated with exposure to these stressors, similar to those seen in schizophrenia. I think these changes might lead to the dopamine imbalances mentioned above.
I intend to use combined PET-MRI to look at healthy people with and without long-term stress exposure. I will be able to examine the link between the amygdala and the dopamine system, and also see how long term stress exposure affects the system. This is a vital step towards developing interventions to help prevent the disease emerging in those at risk.
10.REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/EM/0401
Date of REC Opinion
27 Sep 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion