One of the last sessions of the meeting featured talks about oxytocin treatment for schizophrenia. Popularly known as a “trust hormone” oxytocin enhances social behavior, but a checkered pattern of results suggests that oxytocin may help the most in a therapeutic alliance with targeted social skill training.
Read this meeting report at Schizophrenia Research Forum.
The gene encoding the melanocortin 4 receptor, known for its involvement in human obesity, has now been linked to antipsychotic-induced weight gain by a study published in Archives of General Psychiatry. The findings move researchers closer to predicting a person’s response to a drug — in this case a side effect.
Read this article at Schizophrenia Research Forum.
Stressful experiences turn down signaling of the chemical messenger glutamate in the rat brain, according to a recent study in Neuron. The findings could provide some insight into what makes a brain vulnerable to mental illness.
Read this article at Schizophrenia Research Forum.
Adding extra dopamine receptors to the mouse striatum—a manipulation that models the overactive dopamine signaling hypothesized in schizophrenia—can substantially remodel neurons there, according to a study in the Journal of Neuroscience. The changes were mediated by workaday potassium channels, and suggest a new target for treatment.
Read this article at Schizophrenia Research Forum.
Disorder-specific patterns of DNA damage in neurons mark the brain in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, according to a recent study in Archives of General Psychiatry. This suggests that the cellular controls that keep the genome in good working order inside each neuron are disrupted in these mental illnesses.
Read this article at Schizophrenia Research Forum.
Common variants capture at least 23 percent of liability for schizophrenia, according to a study published in Nature Genetics. The study argues that many common genetic variants with small effects can act together to contribute substantially to risk for the disorder.
Read this article at Schizophrenia Research Forum.
Proteins encoded by DISC1, a gene suspected in schizophrenia, can clump together and slow transport of essential components inside a cell, according to a study in Human Molecular Genetics.
Read this article at Schizophrenia Research Forum.
