Transcript plasticity and promise: a new era in brain research and psychiatry

Plasticity and Promise: A New Era in
Brain Research and Psychiatry
Dolores Malaspina, MD, MSPH
Anita Steckler & Joseph Steckler Professor of Psychiatry
Institute for Social and Psychiatric Initiatives:
Research, Education and Services
NYU Langone Medical Center
Translational Neuroscience Research
Clinical Research
Epidemiology
3.5
Age of mother
Age of father
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
<20
Basic Science
Animal Models
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
Translational Research Example in Schizophrenia
Animal Model
Mice with older sires
have impaired learning
Clinical Research
NYU Challenge GrantDefine the clinical features,
brain changes and best
treatment for this subtype
Epidemiology Study
Jerusalem Birth Cohort
NIH funded Genetic
Study in Israel
Psychiatric hospital
patients in Jerusalem
Genetics  Epigenetics
Watson and Crick
1953
Lamarck
Epigenetic mechanisms:
- change gene expression
without changing DNA
sequence.
-transmit information to
descendents to best adapt
their physiology to the
expected environment.
Epigenetic regulation of gene activity
Scenario ‘A’
Scenario ‘B’
messenger RNA
No message
large amounts of protein
no
protein
Epigenetic effects: intergenerational influences, prenatal
environment and life course potential for plasticity
Birth
Phenotype
GENES
Adult
Phenotype
fetal programming
History of the
Population
MATCH ?
Prenatal
Environment
EPIGENETIC
CHANGES
Risk for
Disease
Postnatal
Environment
INTERGENERATIONAL
ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES
Brain cells are replenished throughout life in the
dentate gyrus of the hippocampus
Increased by
exercise
The dentate is 10
times smaller than
the width of a
human hair
Decreased
by stress
Imaging Neurogenesis?
We have imaged the
dentate gyrus image
using the NYU 7T MRI
Neurogenesis also ongoing in brain olfactory regions
Olfactory
bulb
Neurons from
scrapings at the top of the
nose can be cultured and
used for genetic study.
They have the potential to
made into stem cells
Olfactory
epithelium
Translating science to the public: letter to the editor:
NY Times Magazine October 18, 2009
In response to an
earlier article :
“Understanding the
Anxious Mind”
By Robin Marantz Henig
NY Times Magazine
October 4, 2009
…. Let us now reject the notion of
“hard-wiring.”
New research shows the human
brain’s remarkable ability to adapt to
its environment, beginning in prenatal
development and continuing
throughout the life cycle.
The plasticity of the brain should
provides life-course opportunities for
resilience and enhanced mental health.
DOLORES MALASPINA, M.D., M.S.P.H.
Professor of Psychiatry
Director of InSPIRES
NYU Langone Medical Center