Prof. Ina Weiner

Prof. Weiner received her PhD in Psychology from Tel-Aviv University in 1983. In the same year she was awarded the Alon Fellowship for Young Outstanding Scientists and joined the TAU Department of Psychology. In the years 1996-2000 she served as Head of TAU Interdisciplinary Program for Outstanding Students, and between 2002-2006 as Dean of TAU Faculty of Social Sciences

Pharmacology of schizophrenia, animal models of psychopathology, neurodevelopmental model of schizophrenia. Prof. Weiner's lab has launched and developed the latent inhibition model of schizophrenia which mimics loss of normal attentional control in this disorder, with a focus on the pharmacology of latent inhibition as a basis for the search for novel drugs. In recent years, the laboratory has focused on a neurodevelopmental model of schizophrenia based on a well known risk factor, namely, maternal infection. In addition to long term schizophrenia-like behavioral abnormalities observed in the adult offspring, brain imaging is used to unravel schizophrenia-like brain structural abnormalities that develop in these offspring. Main interest concerns the possibility of prevention of "schizophrenia' in the model. Recent findings reveal that the emergence of both behavioral and brain structural abnormalities in adulthood can be prevented by pharmacological treatments given during an asymptomatic period of adolescence

Barak S. and Weiner I. Scopolamine induces disruption of latent inhibition which is prevented by anti-psychotic drugs and an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. Neuropsychopharmacology (2007) 32:989-999

Gaisler-Salomon I., Diamant L., Rubin C., and Weiner I. Abnormally persistent latent inhibition induced by MK801 is reversed by risperidone and by positive modulators of NMDA receptor function: differential efficacy depending on the stage of the task at which they are administered. Psychopharmacology (2007) 196:255-67

Arad M., and Weiner I. Fluctuation of latent inhibition along the estrous cycle in the rat: Modeling the cyclicity of symptoms in schizophrenic women? Psychoneuroendocrinology (2008) 33:1401-10

Black MD., Varty GB., Arad M., Barak S., De Levie A., Boulay D., Pichat P., Griebel G., and Weiner I. Procognitive and antipsychotic efficacy of glycine transport 1 inhibitors (GlyT1) in acute and neurodevelopmental models of schizophrenia: latent inhibition studies in the rat.Psychopharmacology (2009) 202:385-96

Barak S., and Weiner I. Towards an animal model of an antipsychotic drug-resistant cognitive impairment in schizophrenia: scopolamine induces abnormally persistent latent inhibition, which can be reversed by cognitive enhancers but not by antipsychotic drugs. International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology (2009) 12:227-41

Barak S., Arad M, De Levie A., Black M.D., Griebel G., and Weiner I. Pro-cognitive and antipsychotic efficacy of the alpha7 nicotinic agonist SSR180711 in pharmacological and neurodevelopmental latent inhibition models of schizophrenia. Neuropsychopharmacology (2009) [Epub ahead of print]

Arad M. and Weiner I. (in press) Disruption of latent inhibition induced by ovariectomy can be reversed by estradiol and clozapine as well as by co-administration of haloperidol with estradiol but not by haloperidol alone. Psychopharmacology (Berl) (2009)

Lubow, R.E., and Weiner, I. (Eds.). Latent inhibition: Cognition, neuroscience, and applications to schizophrenia. New York: Cambridge University Press, in press.

Weiner I. and Arad M. Using the pharmacology of latent inhibition to model domains of pathology in schizophrenia and their treatment. Behavioural Brain Research, Special Issue on modeling Schizophrenia (2009) 204:369-86.

Piontkewitz Y., Assaf Y., and Weiner I. Clozapine administration in adolescence prevents post-pubertal emergence of brain structural pathology in an animal model of schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry (2009) 66:1038-46

Barak S., Weiner I. (in press) Differential role of muscarinic transmission within the entorhinal cortex and basolateral amygdala in the processing of irrelevant stimuli. Neuropsychopharmacology

Weiner I. and Arad M. (in press) Contrasting effects of increased and decreased dopamine transmission on latent inhibition in ovariectomized rats and their modulation by 17β-estradiol: An animal model of menopausal psychosis? Neuropsychopharmacology

Piontkewitz Y. Arad M and Weiner I. Risperidone administered during asymptomatic period of adolescence prevents the emergence of brain structural pathology and behavioral abnormalities in an animal model of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin