Project 467147

Antipsychotic drugs are often used to treat schizophrenia but these drugs have side effects such as weight gain and increased risk of diabetes and heart disease which may contribute to the shorter lifespan of individuals with schizophrenia. The body is capable of keeping glucose levels in balance but this process may be disturbed by antipsychotics. Normally, when nutrients are available an area of the brain called the hypothalamus can sense the presence of nutrients such as glucose or fats and send signals to the liver to stop producing its own glucose in order to prevent an excess amount of glucose in the body. Our lab has found that antipsychotics can interfere with the ability of the brain to sense glucose and therefore the liver continues to produce glucose when it should not which can contribute to the development of diabetes. However, it is not yet known whether antipsychotics can also interfere with fats (such as fatty acids) too, therefore, my project will explore whether antipsychotics disrupt the ability of fatty acids in the brain to stop glucose production by the liver. To answer this question, we will administer fatty acids and antipsychotics (such as olanzapine) to rats and measure glucose production to determine whether glucose production changes after rats are given antipsychotics. The results of this project can hopefully help us understand how antipsychotics cause its metabolic side effects which can guide the development of better antipsychotics or drugs that will help prevent the side effects, ultimately improving the quality of life of individuals that take antipsychotic drugs.