J. Mulcrone et al., A STUDY OF ALTERED GENE-EXPRESSION IN FRONTAL-CORTEX FROM SCHIZOPHRENIC-PATIENTS USING DIFFERENTIAL SCREENING, Schizophrenia research, 14(3), 1995, pp. 203-213
In order to examine the molecular basis of schizophrenia we have emplo
yed a sequential differential hybridisation protocol to isolate mRNAs
whose abundances are altered in schizophrenic compared to normal front
al cortex. Five cDNAs present at abnormal levels in the schizophrenic
brain have been isolated by this method. The sequences were identified
on the basis of homologies in the EMBL and Genbank databases. All the
sequences encode mitochondrial transcripts; one encodes part of the 1
2s rRNA, three encode parts of the 16s rRNA region of the mitochondria
l genome whilst the fourth encodes part of the amino acid sequence of
cytochrome oxidase sub-unit II. It was established that mitochondrial
sequences were not over-represented in the library and that this could
therefore not account for the isolation of five mitochondrial transcr
ipts by this procedure. Increased levels of cytochrome oxidase mRNA we
re detected in a further set of extracts from the frontal cortex of ei
ght schizophrenic patients and five controls. The amount of mt-DNA was
measured in these samples but there was no difference between schizop
hrenic and control. These results indicate a possible abnormality of m
itochondrial function in the schizophrenic frontal cortex.