Single protein targeted as the root biological cause of several childhood psychiatric disorders
October 31, 2012 in Medical research
A new research discovery has the potential to revolutionize the biological understanding of some childhood psychiatric disorders. Specifically, scientists have found that when a single protein involved in brain development, called "SRGAP3," is malformed, it causes problems in the brain functioning of mice that cause symptoms that are similar to some mental health and neurological disorders in children. Because this protein has similar functions in humans, it may represent a "missing link" for several disorders that are part of an illness spectrum. In addition, it offers researchers a new target for the development of treatments that can correct the biological cause rather than treat the symptoms. This discovery was published in November 2012 print issue of The FASEB Journal.
"Developmental brain disorders such as schizophrenia, hydrocephalus, mental retardation and autism are among the most devastating diseases in children and young adults," said Dusan Bartsch, Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Department of Molecular Biology at the Central Institute of Mental Health at the University of Heidelberg in Mannheim, Germany. "We hope that our findings will contribute to a better understanding, and in the end, to better treatments for these disorders."
Bartsch and colleagues made this discovery using mice with the SRGAP3 protein inactivated. Then they conducted several experiments comparing these mice to normal mice. The mice with inactive SRGAP3 showed clear changes in their brains' anatomy, which resulted in altered behavior similar to certain symptoms in human neurological and psychiatric diseases. An involvement of SRGAP3 in different brain disorders could indicate that these disorders are possibly connected, as SRGAP3 is a key player in brain development. These different disorders could be connected via the SRGAP3 protein because they all emerge from disturbed development of the nervous system.
"Since Freud put biological psychiatry on the map, we've slowly increased our understanding of how mental health is dictated by chemistry," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. "Eventually we'll understand the complex biology underlying most psychiatric illnesses, from genes to proteins to cell signaling to overt behaviors. Along the way, as in this report, we're likely to find single targets close to the roots of apparently different mental illnesses."
More information: Robert Waltereit, Uwe Leimer, Oliver von Bohlen und Halbach, Jutta Panke, Sabine M. Hölter, Lillian Garrett, Karola Wittig, Miriam Schneider, Camie Schmitt, Julia Calzada-Wack, Frauke Neff, Lore Becker, Cornelia Prehn, Sergej Kutscherjawy, Volker Endris, Claire Bacon, Helmut Fuchs, Valérie Gailus-Durner, Stefan Berger, Kai Schönig, Jerzy Adamski, Thomas Klopstock, Irene Esposito, Wolfgang Wurst, Martin Hrabě de Angelis, Gudrun Rappold, Thomas Wieland, and Dusan Bartsch. Srgap3−/− mice present a neurodevelopmental disorder with schizophrenia-related intermediate phenotypes. FASEB J 26:4418-4428, doi:10.1096/fj.11-202317
Journal reference:
FASEB Journal
Provided by
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
-
Mice may help treat mental disorders
Jul 31, 2006 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Scientists point to link between missing synapse protein and abnormal behaviors
Nov 23, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
New protein regulates water in the brain to control inflammation
May 02, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
High rates of substance abuse exist among veterans with mental illness
Apr 19, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Mental disorders in parents linked to autism in children
May 05, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Motion perception revisited: High Phi effect challenges established motion perception assumptions
Apr 23, 2013 |
3 / 5 (2) |
2
-
Anything you can do I can do better: Neuromolecular foundations of the superiority illusion (Update)
Apr 02, 2013 |
4.5 / 5 (11) |
5
-
The visual system as economist: Neural resource allocation in visual adaptation
Mar 30, 2013 |
5 / 5 (2) |
9
-
Separate lives: Neuronal and organismal lifespans decoupled
Mar 27, 2013 |
4.9 / 5 (8) |
0
-
Sizing things up: The evolutionary neurobiology of scale invariance
Feb 28, 2013 |
4.8 / 5 (10) |
14
-
Pressure-volume curve: Elastic Recoil Pressure don't make sense
May 18, 2013
-
If you became brain-dead, would you want them to pull the plug?
May 17, 2013
-
MRI bill question
May 15, 2013
-
Ratio of Hydrogen of Oxygen in Dessicated Animal Protein
May 13, 2013
-
Alcohol and acetaminophen
May 13, 2013
-
Marie Curie's leukemia
May 13, 2013
- More from Physics Forums - Medical Sciences
More news stories
Do salamanders hold the solution to regeneration?
Salamanders' immune systems are key to their remarkable ability to regrow limbs, and could also underpin their ability to regenerate spinal cords, brain tissue and even parts of their hearts, scientists have ...
Medical research
39 minutes ago |
not rated yet |
0
|
New study finds blind people have the potential to use their 'inner bat' to locate objects
New research from the University of Southampton has shown that blind and visually impaired people have the potential to use echolocation, similar to that used by bats and dolphins, to determine the location of an object.
Medical research
3 hours ago |
not rated yet |
1
|
Germ-fighting vaccine system makes great strides in delivery
A novel vaccine study from South Dakota State University (SDSU) will headline the groundbreaking research that will be unveiled at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists' (AAPS) National Biotechnology Conference ...
Medical research
3 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Discovery of novel medicine for treatment of chronic wounds
Every 20 seconds, a limb is lost as a consequence of diabetic foot ulcer that does not heal. To date, medical solutions that can change this situation are very limited. In his doctoral thesis Yue Shen from the Industrial ...
Medical research
8 hours ago |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
Lymphatic fluid takes detour
When tumours metastasise, they can block lymphatic vessels, as researchers from ETH Zurich have discovered using a new method. The lymphatic fluid subsequently has to find a new path through the tissue. Such ...
Medical research
8 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
|
Scientists identify molecular trigger for Alzheimer's disease
Researchers have pinpointed a catalytic trigger for the onset of Alzheimer's disease – when the fundamental structure of a protein molecule changes to cause a chain reaction that leads to the death of neurons ...
Study shows premature birth interrupts vital brain development processes leading to reduced cognitive abilities
Researchers from King's College London have for the first time used a novel form of MRI to identify crucial developmental processes in the brain that are vulnerable to the effects of premature birth. This new study, published ...
Leading explanations for whooping cough's resurgence don't stand up to scrutiny
Whooping cough has exploded in the United States and some other developed countries in recent decades, and many experts suspect ineffective childhood vaccines for the alarming resurgence.
72 percent of pregnant women experience constipation and other bowel problems
Nearly three out of four pregnant women experience constipation, diarrhea or other bowel disorders during their pregnancies, a Loyola University Medical Center study has found.
Neurons that can multitask greatly enhance the brain's computational power, study finds
Over the past few decades, neuroscientists have made much progress in mapping the brain by deciphering the functions of individual neurons that perform very specific tasks, such as recognizing the location ...
Music therapy reduces anxiety, use of sedatives for patients receiving ventilator support
New research suggests that for some hospitalized ICU patients on mechanical ventilators, using headphones to listen to their favorite types of music could lower anxiety and reduce their need for sedative medications.