Electrophysiology of Human Native Receptors in Neurological and Mental Disorders

Dr. Limon begins this webinar with an introduction to synaptic dysfunction in human disorders, including autism, schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, and AD. All of these conditions have multifactorial etiologies and also involve changes in dendritic spine number over time that are associated with the development of symptoms. Establishing animal models for such complex disorders is inherently difficult, and even in cases where such models do exist, they fail to recapitulate all of the characteristics of the relevant human condition. Further, in some cases, such as non-demented individuals with AD pathology (as revealed on postmortem examination), no clinical evidence of underlying disease pathology is detectable. Indeed, as Dr. Limon demonstrates, a reduction in cortical thickness (as much as one third) with age may be observed without accompanying cognitive impairment, at least in part due to brain reorganization and plasticity.