A PRELIMINARY-STUDY ON EARLY-ONSET SCHIZOPHRENIA AND BIPOLAR DISORDER- LARGE POLYGLUTAMINE EXPANSIONS ARE NOT INVOLVED

Genetic factors are of major aetiological importance in bipolar disord er and schizophrenia. The exact mode of inheritance is unknown, but re cent arguments in favor of genetic anticipation in those two disorders suggest that dynamic mutations could be involved. Using a new antibod y, we thus explored the implication of large expanded polyglutamine tr acts in a sample of very early onset schizophrenic and bipolar patient s. No evidence for a specific protein with polyglutamine expansion was found in either group. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.