Researchers have identified common and rare gene mutations that increase risk for schizophrenia. Yet it's unclear what biological mechanisms go awry in the brain to cause psychosis and other disabling symptoms, due in part to a lack of valid animal models to study in the lab.
that strongly increase risk of schizophrenia. One of these is the GRIN2A gene, which encodes a subunit of a protein complex called the NMDA receptor.
The team took an unbiased, multidisciplinary approach to understand Grin2a's effects. Their analysis revealed changes in the expression of a number of genes in different brain regions and at different ages in the mice, compared to mice with two working Grin2a copies and to those with none. Remarkably, their analysis also supported another long-standing hypothesis, centered on dopamine. Researchers have suspected that excessive dopamine signaling is partly to blame in schizophrenia, because medicines that block dopamine receptors are effective in reducing psychotic symptoms.
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