Characterization of the Schizophrenia Candidate Genes in Developing Nervous Systems (I)

Schizophrenia is a severe genetic mental disorder that affects around 1% of the world’s population. Abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex have been found in the effected brain. And recent evidences suggest schizophrenia is cause by defects in developing nervous system. However, how the neurodevelopmental and prefrontal cortex defects result in schizophrenia and the molecular bases remain much unclear. Therefore in order to advance the understanding of the aetiology of schizophrenia and the molecular mechanisms that underlies, susceptibility schizophrenic genes that show alter expression in the prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia patients are selected to analyze their role in developing nervous systems. RGS4，GSK3p，GRM3 and COMT are selected and I have also identified novel homologues of these genes in the lower vertebrates，i.e. zebrafish and chick，which provide relatively easier manipulating system for embryonic analysis. Further investigations include analyzing the spatial-temporal expression of these molecules and studying their roles in neuron proliferation， differentiation， migration， myelination and synaptic connections.

Project ID:PA9408-1013
External Project ID:NSC94-2745-B182-006-URD