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Decreased Hippocampal Expression of a Glutamate Receptor Gene in Schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

John Collinge
Affiliation:
Prion Disease Group, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, St Mary's Hospital Medical School, Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG
David Curtis
Affiliation:
Molecular Psychiatry Laboratory, Academic Department of Psychiatry, University College and Middlesex School of Medicine, Riding House Street, London W1P 7PN

Abstract

‘A striking and specific loss of the messenger RNA that encodes a non-N-methyl D-aspartate (non-NMDA) glutamate receptor was found in hippocampal tissue obtained at necropsy from 6 patients with schizophrenia, when compared to specimens from 8 controls without neurological or psychiatric signs or symptoms. These findings support suggestions of aberrant glutamatergic function in schizophrenia. Evidence that gene expression may be abnormal in schizophrenia, with decreased production of an excitatory neurotransmitter receptor, may have therapeutic as well as pathogenetic implications.’

Type
The Current Literature
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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