Research Sheds Light on Schizophrenia Gene

Scientists know that the gene called disc 1 is the gene that has been identified as a major factor for developing schizophrenia as well as other mood disorders. But just how it contributes to these diseases is unknown.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have just released the results of a study that gives the first big to this problem by showing how the gene acts in normal adult brains.

What they found out is that disc 1 makes a protein that takes the newly made nerve cells in adult brains and guides them to their proper place, at the proper speed so that they can integrate themselves into the most complicated part of the body, the nervous system. If the disc 1 does not do its job right, the new nerves do not know where to go.

Previous studies have shown that disc 1 was important for the nerve migration process, but this study shows it is critical, not only for moving the nerves to their right places, but also more functions and may be able to give insight into the reasons why it plays a part in many psychiatric disorders.

The researchers were able to track the abnormal movements of the hyperactive nerve cells in mice by injecting a virus that had been specially designed for just this purpose into a part of a mouse brain known as the hippocampus. This is the region of the brain that contributes to learning and memory and therefore makes it a factor in psychiatric disorders. The virus only infected newly born cells and it not only knocked down the expression of the disc 1, but it also made it glow under a microscope.

There are other recent Hopkins research studies that were able to successfully engineer mouse models with abnormal disc1 and can also reproduce schizophrenia symptoms such as anxiety, hyperactivity, apathy and altered senses, Combine these earlier findings with the ones of the most recent study that looked at the normal roll of disc 1 and there is a good chance to find the answer.

Another question they hope to be able to answer is why schizophrenia only manifests itself in adults and not in children even though it is a genetic disease.