Enlarged cerebral ventricles are found in 80% of individuals with schizophrenia, yet the mechanisms that lead to ventricular enlargement are mostly unknown. Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have found that two microRNAs play a critical role in a mechanism that results in ventricular enlargement in a type of mouse model. The results were reported today in Nature Communications .
Deletion of a region on chromosome 22 (22q11.2-deletion syndrome) increases the risk of developing schizophrenia approximately 30-fold in humans. 22q11-deletion syndrome can be replicated in mice, creating a research model with scientific significance for studying schizophrenia. Researchers have previously observed ventricular enlargement in individuals with 22q11-deletion syndrome and in mouse models.
The researchers wanted to find out what drives ventricular enlargement in models of 22q11-deletion syndrome. They were interested in the motile cilia, structures that line the ventricle walls and help cerebral spinal fluid circulate.
Schizophrenia itself is polygenic; there is no single gene that can explain all of the symptoms of this complex disease. But the 22q11-deletion syndrome model gives us an opportunity to identify the gene that contributes to ventricular enlargement." Stanislav Zakharenko, M.D., Ph.D., senior author, St. Jude Department of Developmental Neurobiology Related Stories
Also in Industry News
How to decide whether or not to start treatment for prostate cancer?
Analysis of the SARS-CoV-2 proteome via visual tools
$65m investment increases British Patient Capital’s exposure to life sciences and health technology