In a second study, researchers at Johns Hopkins and collaborating institutions have identified a mechanism whereby alterations in the DISC-1 (disrupted in schizophrenia-1) gene may underlie the adolescent onset of schizophrenia. In this second study, published in the March issue of Nature Neuroscience, the research team examined DISC-1's role in forming connections between nerve cells. The first study looked at the long-term effects of transient DISC-1 gene expression changes near the time of birth in a mouse model. This first study was published in the February 25, 2010 issue of Neuron and has previously been reported on in BioQuick News. Taken together, the results of both studies suggest that anatomical differences that seem to be influenced by the DISC-1 gene cause problems that start before birth, but surface only in young adulthood. "If we can learn more about the cascade of events that lead to these anatomical differences, we may eventually be able to alter the course of schizophrenia. During adolescence, we may be able to intervene to prevent or lessen symptoms," said second study senior author and first study co-author Dr. Akira Sawa, professor of psychiatry and director of the program in molecular psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Numerous studies have previously suggested that schizophrenia results from abnormal connectivity. The fact that symptoms typically arise soon after adolescence, a time of massive reorganization of connections between nerve cells, supports this idea. The scientists began their second study by surveying rat nerve cells to see where DISC1 was most active. Unsurprisingly, they found the highest DISC-1 activity in connections between nerve cells.
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