US Patent:
20070106479, May 10, 2007
Inventors:
Hugo Geerts - Berwyn PA, US
Athan Spiros - Portland OR, US
International Classification:
G06G 7/48
G06F 19/00
Abstract:
Computer modeling of interactions between and among cortico and subcortical areas of the human brain, for example in a normal and a pathological state resembling schizophrenia which pathological state has inputs representing the effects of a drug(s), for the purpose of using the outputs to predict the effect of drugs in psychiatric and cognitive diseases. A method is provided for developing a computer model of interactions between and among cortico and subcortical areas of the human brain which comprises the steps of identifying data relating to a biological state of a generic synapse model, the striatum, Locus Coeruleus, Dorsal raphe, hippocampus, amygdala and cortex; identifying biological processes related to the data, these identified biological processes defining at least one portion of the biological state of the generic synapse model, the striatum, Locus Coeruleus, Dorsal raphe, hippocampus, amygdala, and cortex; and combining the biological processes to form a simulation of the biological state of interactions between and among cortico and subcortical areas of the human brain. Diseases that can be modeled include psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, ADHD, autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder, substance abuse and cognitive deficits therein and neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Mild Cognitive impairment, Parkinson's disease, stroke, vascular dementia, Huntington's disease, epilepsy and Down syndrome. A resulting computer model is of the biological state of interactions between and among cortico and subcortical areas of the human brain, comprising code to define the biological processes related to the biological state of the generic synapse model, the striatum, Locus Coeruleus, Dorsal raphe, hippocampus, amygdala and cortex, and code to define the mathematical relationships related to interactions among biological variables associated with the biological processes. At least two of the biological processes are associated with the mathematical relationships. A combination of the code to define the biological processes and the code to define the mathematical relationships define a simulation of the biological state of the interactions between and among cortico and subcortical areas of the human brain. Computer executable software code is provided comprised of code to define biological processes related to a biological state of interactions between and among cortico and subcortical areas of the human brain including code to define mathematical relations associated with the biological processes. A computer model of interactions between and among cortico and subcortical areas of the human brain is provided, comprising a computer-readable memory storing codes and a processor coupled to the computer-readable memory, the processor configured to execute the codes. The memory comprises code to define biological processes related to the biological state of interactions between and among cortico and subcortical areas of the human brain, and code to define mathematical relationships related to interactions among biological variables associated with the biological processes.