175. From Mechanisms to Medicines: Relations Between Inflammatory/Oxidative Pathways, Schizophrenia Symptoms, and Opportunities for Intervention

Abstract

Overall Abstract: Oxidative stress and neuroinfammation are increasing appreciated as participants in the neurobiology of schizophrenia and other brain disorders. This symposium will highlight research of these pathways from basic science and translational medicine perspectives. The speakers will demonstrate that characterization of infammatory and oxidative pathways provide novel insights to the pathogenesis of schizophrenia and offer novel treatment approaches that can be tested within our, and our patient's, lifetimes. Jeffrey Yao (USA) will demonstrate novel signaling actions of purine mol-ecules, and their ability to modulate antioxidant/infammatory pathways, monoamine and amino acid neurotransmitters, and the activity of excitable neural membranes. Thomas Sedlak (USA) will illustrate how the glutathione antioxidant/anti-infammatory pathway shapes glutamatergic neurotransmission, and how natural substances targeting this pathway may be applicable as schizophrenia treatments. Brian Miller (USA) will present a new analysis of data from the CATIE trial, demonstrated a new model of mechanistic relations between cocaine and cannabis use, infammatory markers, and the severity of psychotic symptoms. Clarissa Gama (Brazil) will pose whether subtypes of schizophrenia may be a "dementia" praecox after all. She will present a novel molecular signature of aging and infammation biomarkers associated with cognitive performance and gray matter volume in schizophrenia. Discussant, Akira Sawa, will highlight the promulgation of oxidative stress and infammatory investigations the past decade of schizophrenia research, the novel fndings of this international symposium, and the synergy and gaps between discoveries of the feld at large. The importance of longitudinal investigations and controlling for confounding factors in this rapidly expanding area of research will also be discussed.