ABNORMAL EXPRESSION OF CELL RECOGNITION MOLECULES IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

Schizophrenia is a neuropsychiatric disorder of unknown etiology assoc iated with subtle changes ill brain morphology. The cell recognition m olecules (CRMs) neural cell adhesion molecule (N-CAM) and L1 are invol ved in morphoregulatory events and numerous neurodevelopmental process es. We found a selective increase of 105- to 115-kDa N-CAM in the hipp ocampus and prefrontal cortex of patients with schizophrenia while oth er N-CAM isoforms and L1 proteins were not altered. There was also evi dence for an abnormality in CRM expression in schizophrenic patients: concentrations of 200-kDa L1 were strongly correlated with expression of N-CAM isoforms and cleaved L1 proteins In controls, whereas these c orrelations were absent in patients with schizophrenia. The increase o f the 105- to 115-kDa N-CAM isoform in the brains of patients with sch izophrenia confirms previous cerebrospinal fluid findings. Increased N -CAM in schizophrenia may result from structural brain abnormalities, from glial processing of N-CAM, or from an aberration in the regulatio n of N-CAM expression.