New Interactive Simulator Depicts Brain Chemistry Imbalances in Schizophrenia

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed an interactive model that simulates systemic brain chemistry imbalances in patients with schizophrenia, in the hopes of fast-tracking research and treatment solutions and increasing understanding of the disease.

The schizophrenia simulator, which depicts the imbalances in simple, color graphics, zeroes in on the neurochemistry behind working memory dysfunction. Developers described the model in the online Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - General Subjects.

“Most researchers study a disease from their own specialty’s focus and perspective. Then they may form a hypothesis based on dopamine or glutamate or some other single neurotransmitter,” said research engineer Zhen Qi, PhD, from the department of biomedical engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, Atlanta. “Our model integrates all neurotransmitter systems.”

Data used to develop the model stemmed from brain chemistry studies involving patients with schizophrenia from nearly 50 labs around the world. Model developers worked with schizophrenia experts to interpret the data then fed the information into differential equations that represent relationships among neurochemical systems.

The resulting map showing the brain chemistry behind working memory deficits in schizophrenia, explained researcher and Georgia Tech biomedical engineer Eberhard O. Voit, PhD, “reflects the collective knowledge of the scientific community.”

Users input varying levels of neurotransmitters, and the matrix model simulates the domino effects they have on each other. The simulator, researchers hope, could speed research and treatment solutions, as well as help patients and their families better understand the chemical underpinnings of schizophrenia.

—Jolynn Tumolo

References

1. Qi Z, Yu GP, Tretter F, Pogarell O, Grace AA, Voit EO. A heuristic model for working memory deficit in schizophrenia. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - General Subjects. 2016 May 10. [Epub ahead of print].
2. Schizophrenia simulator: when chemistry upends sanity’s balance [press release]. Atlanta, GA: Newswise; August 3, 2016.