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Research News |
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More Evidence for CNVs in Schizophrenia Etiology—Jury Still Out on Practical Implications
31 July 2008. Three large, independent studies aimed at understanding the genetic causes of schizophrenia were published online...
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Unfinished Business: Understanding Drug Effects on Dopamine Pathways
25 July 2008. The phosphatase and kinase inhibitor DARPP-32 has proven to be a central signaling molecule in the dopamine pathway...
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Down With Inhibition: Modulating GABAergic Neocortical Control
24 July 2008. There is evidence that local cortical circuits are disturbed in the brains of people with schizophrenia...
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Spotlight
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What is RSS?
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For those of you who just can't wait for the twice-monthly SRF newsletter, we're happy to now offer RSS, short for Really Simple Syndication. This technology, often termed a "feed," allows you to be alerted to new content at the Schizophrenia Research Forum website as soon as it is posted. The content in the RSS feed is the links to news and comments, delivered directly to your computer.
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In order to read RSS content, you will need to use software called an "RSS reader," "feed reader," or an "aggregator," which can be Web-based or desktop-based. A list of RSS feed readers is available on Wikipedia. Each reader works slightly differently, but the result is the same. And if you use Google or other Web browsers as your homepage, you can choose to display RSS from SRF.
SRF users can then subscribe to our feed either by clicking on the RSS icon or by entering the feed's link into the selected reader. The RSS reader downloads any website updates that it finds, so you can check your reader any time to look for new SRF content. Users will be kept up to date on the latest news and comments on the Schizophrenia Research Forum website. Enjoy the updates!
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More Exciting News—Two Glutamate Papers For The Price Of One!
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| Daniel Javitt |
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| Bita Moghaddam |
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Well, it's true, all our content is free, but when we post a second Current Hypothesis review on the brain's dominant excitatory neurotransmitter, glutamate, it's hard for us to resist bad puns. One of our first hypothesis papers—The Glutamate Hypothesis Of Schizophrenia was posted by Bita Moghaddam of the University of Pittsburgh soon after our launch in 2005. We now offer an updated version of that paper, along with a companion piece by Dan Javitt of Nathan Kline Institute—Glutamate From A Cortical Perspective.
The preeminent schizophrenia news of the past year is, of course, the success of a metabotropic glutamate receptor agonist against psychosis in a clinical trial (see SRF news story), discussed in Moghaddam's update. Javitt focuses on evidence of glutamatergic—or as he prefers to put it, NMDA receptor—dysfunction in both association and sensory cortical regions (see related SRF news story), as well as on some of the functions subserved by these areas. In doing so, he touches on arguments that glutamate models of schizophrenia better explain the disorder than do dopamine models (see SRF Current Hypothesis paper by Anissa Abi-Dargham).
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Our Current Hypotheses section is intended to survey the dominant ideas that drive research into the causes and pathology of schizophrenia. We have a few more hypotheses in the works, but we invite you to suggest other topics for consideration by SRF editorial staff and advisors.
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SZGene's Multiple Meta-analyses Featured In Nature Genetics
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SchizophreniaGene crew:
Nicole C. Allen,
Sachin Bagade,
and Lars Bertram |
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"... a desirably systematic approach to chaos."—Victor I. Reus, at Faculty of 1000
Our congratulations to Lars Bertram and his colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital for the recognition accorded the SchizophreniaGene database! Their paper on the meta-analyses of SZGene, with additional criteria to help us assess the quality of the data, appears in the July issue of Nature Genetics (see SRF news story). Further kudos to the Alzheimer Research Forum team that helped Bertram and colleagues build the original AlzGene database.
Much has been made of the lack of replication in psychiatric genetics studies, but of 118 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that could be meta-analyzed, 24 SNPs in 16 genes showed evidence that they slightly alter the risk of schizophrenia. There are both traditional suspects (e.g., dopamine receptors) and relative strangers (a tumor suppressor) in this mix. When first author Nicole Allen and colleagues applied Human Genome Epidemiology Network (HuGENet) criteria to assess a range of factors that might affect our confidence in the data, four contestants pulled out in front of the field. These are SNPs in the genes for the D1 dopamine receptor (DRD1), dysbindin (DTNBP1), methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), and tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH1).
The authors caution that these analyses do not confirm or exclude any genes: to continue the racing metaphor, the fact that some contenders have broken away from the pack does not mean that others won't complete the marathon. The goal of SZGene is to keep us informed of the situation.
As with all new research—and especially for this paper—SRF encourages a critical examination of the methods employed and conclusions reached by Allen and colleagues. What grade do you give to the new HuGENet grading system? The only multiple positive associations were in dopamine, glutamate, and GABA receptor genes—can we read more into this than just the fact that these genes have been hot suspects and therefore studied more? Read more and comment ....
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Welcome to the Schizophrenia Research Forum!
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Welcome to the Schizophrenia Research Forum website—a virtual community for science about schizophrenia and related disorders. Our Mission is to help researchers in their quest for causes, improved treatments, and better understanding of schizophrenia. Read more about ways to browse the site.
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What's New
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Comments - Posted 3 August 2008
Read remarks by Daniel Weinberger about
The International Schizophrenia Consortium. Rare chromosomal deletions and duplications increase risk of schizophrenia. Nature. 2008 July 30 et al.
NEWS: More Evidence for CNVs in Schizophrenia Etiology—Jury Still Out on Practical Implications |
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Comments - Posted 1 August 2008
Read remarks by Christopher Ross, Russell L. Margolis about
The International Schizophrenia Consortium. Rare chromosomal deletions and duplications increase risk of schizophrenia. Nature. 2008 July 30 et al.
NEWS: More Evidence for CNVs in Schizophrenia Etiology—Jury Still Out on Practical Implications |
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Current Hypothesis - Posted 25 July 2008
Read "Glutamate From a Cortical Perspective" by Daniel Javitt. |
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Job - Posted 25 July 2008
Research Scientist, Cognition: H. Lundbeck A/S, The Section for Cognition, Copenhagen, Denmark. |
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