investigating the mechanisms involved in aberrant neurosphere migration in schizophrenia (784.2)

Schizophrenia (SCZD) is a chronic, debilitating disorder with a prevalence of 1% and typically appears in the late adolescent and early adulthood years. Postmortem studies have been pivotal in understanding the neuropathology of schizophrenic brains by revealing characteristics such as reduced cell size, brain volume and neuronal connections; however, the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the disease as well as its development remain unclear. To investigate disease progression, we modeled genetic predisposition to SCZD by reprogramming fibroblasts from SCZD patients into human induced pluripotent stems cells (hiPSCs) and differentiating these cells into neural progenitor cells (NPCs) and neurons. Using a neurosphere migration assay, we observed aberrant migration of SCZD NPCs in vitro. To investigate the mechanism responsible for this aberrant migration, we manipulated the RHO-ROCK (Rho-associated kinase) signaling pathway in SCZD NPCs. In addition, we investigated whether treatment with antip...