Miller School Schizophrenia Study Prominently Featured in Prestigious Journal

Schizophrenia, one of the top 15 leading causes of disability worldwide, is a highly complex disorder plagued by a lack of understanding regarding its underlying causes and thus a paucity of effective treatment options.

To better understand and treat the disorder, Regina Vontell, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, led a study published in the January 2022 edition of the journal Brain Pathology.

Dr. Vontell’s study, “Microglia Activation in Postmortem Brains with Schizophrenia Demonstrates Distinct Morphological Changes Between Brain Regions,” found that cells involved in a patient’s immune response may contribute to some of the symptoms and pathology seen in schizophrenia.

“Our study shows that microglia cells – cells in the brain that regulate our immune response – can become overactive and undergo changes in population and shape,” Dr. Vontell said. “These changes can cause inflammation in the brain, resulting in many of the symptoms seen in schizophrenia.”

Microglia Cell Effect

Dr. Vontell’s findings contribute to ongoing efforts to identify the biological causes of schizophrenia and link them to symptoms of the disorder so that more effective treatments can be developed.

“The present study indicates changes in microglia cell densities and morphologies in cases of schizophrenia across different cortical regions associated with schizophrenia (BA9, BA22, and BA32),” Dr. Vontell said. “We speculate that these morphological alterations may indicate a shift toward increased activation, possibly resulting in functional deficits and playing a role in the disorganized thought processes seen in people with schizophrenia.”

The next stage of Dr. Vontell’s research will seek to elucidate the molecular or genetic processes that cause microglia to undergo these changes in schizophrenia. She and her team plan to focus on protein pathways within microglia that are associated with inflammation.

In addition to demonstrating that microglia are indeed involved in schizophrenia and thus appropriate targets for treatment, these further studies could identify proteins within the microglia that hold promise as more specific targets for future drug development.

Tags: Department of Neurology, Dr. Regina Vontell, Miller Schcool of Medicine, Schizophrenia