Nerve cell regeneration of mental patients

Researchers have successfully developed neurons from people with schizophrenia for use in testing new drugs and delving into the complex mechanisms of the disease.

This work was published online in the Nature version.

These cells, developed in a Petri dish, help researchers find a new way of studying neurons in people with schizophrenia, which so far uses cadaveric brain samples. still very limited.

The group of researchers, led by Professor Fred H Gage of the Department of Biology at the Salk Institute in the US, used skin biopsy samples from four patients with severe schizophrenia. They turn fibroblast skin cells into embryonic stem cells, then develop them into a mixture of three different types of neurons.

In fact, researchers have created a two-dimensional living model of nerve cells that can exist in the brain of people with schizophrenia.

The researchers have also devised a new ingenious way to assess the 'ability of the nervous system to connect,' measuring how many neurons are connected to each neuron.

As a result, the neurons of people with schizophrenia in Petri dishes only have half the number of normal connections. This low ability to connect is also observed in the brain of corpses who suffer from this disease.

Interestingly, the researchers found that developing neurons with loxapine, which is sometimes used to treat schizophrenia, has a significant effect on neural connectivity, up to 80% compared to the normal level.

They then studied genes expressing in the neurons of people with schizophrenia and found amazing results that almost 600 genes were expressed in more or less than normal levels. About a quarter of these genes are involved in schizophrenia in blood and cadaveric studies. The remaining 450 genes are also relevant.