Burrows et al.

I liked Burrows et al. article and I thought the topic of environmental interactions on genes was a really interesting place to begin in looking at schizophrenia as if we know that some environmental factors influence predisposed genes then perhaps they can be avoided in humans to avoid developing schizophrenia.

I enjoyed the used of the enriching environment as a main factor in the article as we have not specifically focused on this before and I thought it was a crucial model for the paper to successfully be able to present how environment can influence genes, by showing that the enriching environment can improve mental health by allowing the animals more space and a generally more enriching environment.

I think perhaps incorporating some of these enriching environmental aspects into programs to help treat people especially people sectioned due to schizophrenic systems is crucial for treatment. Treatment facilities make me think of enclosed spaces and enclosed rooms with all white walls and an uncomfortably unhomely environment, perhaps this could be encouraging negative effects on predisposed genes and by changing surrounding environments could potentially enable a more efficient recovery space to learn to deal with schizophrenia.

I found it really interesting that the authors conducted the experiments at the age where symptoms of schizophrenia typically emerge, in the post puberty stage and I thought that was a really nice addition to their model as it is something we have seen in the previous schizophrenic papers and we have discussed that the age factor is important when looking at schizophrenia.

I preferred the Burrow et al. paper as I thought the EE model was convincing and they retrieved some really solid, consistent data relating to their glutamate hypothesis.