Science News about Schizophrenia

NIH Study Shows People with Serious Mental Illnesses Can Lose Weight

Press Release • March 21, 2013

Losing weight is challenging for everyone. It can be particularly difficult for someone with a serious mental illness. An NIMH-funded clinical study proves that a modified diet and exercise program can work for people with serious mental illnesses. Participants lost 7 pounds more than controls—and continued to lose weight.

Developing Male Brain Exposed to Less Stress-Protective Protein

Science Update • March 12, 2013

Why are rates of schizophrenia and autism higher in males? New evidence implicates an enzyme expressed in the placenta that helps protect the developing fetal brain from adverse effects of maternal stress early in pregnancy.

Five Major Mental Disorders Share Genetic Roots

Science Update • March 01, 2013

Five major mental disorders share some of the same genetic risk factors, the largest genome-wide study of its kind has found.

Five Major Mental Disorders Share the Same Genes

Science Update • February 28, 2013

Largest study yet into genetics and mental health reveal that the five most common disorders—autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disease, schizophrenia, and major depression—all share similar genetic components.

Mapping Brain Circuits Provides Clues to Schizophrenia, Earlier Detection of Psychosis

Science Update • February 26, 2013

A newly identified brain circuit could lead to earlier detection of psychosis in patients with schizophrenia.

Different Genes, Same Risk Pathway in Schizophrenia

Science Update • January 02, 2013

Work by NIMH-supported scientists illustrates the variability of the genes and biology underlying illnesses like schizophrenia.

Gene Variants Implicated in Extreme Weight Gain Associated with Antipsychotics

Science Update • October 12, 2012

A small study suggests that people with certain genetic variants may be more susceptible to extreme weight gain if they take certain antipsychotic medications.

Gene Regulator in Brain’s Executive Hub Tracked Across Lifespan – NIH study

Press Release • February 02, 2012

For the first time, scientists have tracked the activity, across the lifespan, of an environmentally responsive regulatory mechanism that turns genes on and off in the brain’s executive hub. Among key findings of the study by National Institutes of Health scientists: genes implicated in schizophrenia and autism turn out to be members of a select club of genes in which regulatory activity peaks during an environmentally-sensitive critical period in development.

NIMH RAISE Project Makes Progress as Teams Refine Research Approaches

Science Update • August 09, 2011

Researchers continue to make progress in the NIMH Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode (RAISE) Project, which seeks to intervene at the earliest stages of illness in order to prevent long term disability. Recent refinements to the two RAISE studies will ensure that RAISE continues efficiently, and generates results that will be relevant to consumers and health care policy makers.

Switching Antipsychotics May Reduce Metabolic Risks

Science Update • July 22, 2011

Patients experiencing cardiovascular or metabolic side effects while taking an antipsychotic medication may fare better if they switch to a different medication provided they are closely monitored, according to an NIMH-funded study.

Rare Gene Glitch May Hold Clues for Schizophrenia – NIH-funded Study

Press Release • February 23, 2011

Scientists are eyeing a rare genetic glitch for clues to improved treatments for some people with schizophrenia – even though they found the mutation in only one third of 1 percent of patients.

Mental Decline Thwarted in Aging Rats 

Press Release • July 08, 2010

Scientists have discovered a compound that restores the capacity to form new memories in aging rats, likely by improving the survival of newborn neurons in the brain's memory hub. The research, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, has turned up clues to a neuroprotective mechanism that could lead to a treatment for Alzheimer's disease.

Effectiveness of Long-term Use of Antipsychotic Medication to Treat Childhood Schizophrenia is Limited

Science Update • May 17, 2010

Few youths with early-onset schizophrenia who are treated with antipsychotic medications for up to a year appear to benefit from their initial treatment choice over the long term, according to results from an NIMH-funded study. The study was published online ahead of print May 4, 2010, in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Impaired Brain Connections Traced to Schizophrenia Mutation

Press Release • March 31, 2010

The strongest known recurrent genetic cause of schizophrenia impairs communications between the brain’s decision-making and memory hubs, resulting in working memory deficits, according to a study in mice.

Genes and Circuitry, Not Just Clinical Observation, to Guide Classification for Research

Science Update • January 28, 2010

NIMH is launching a long-term project aimed at ultimately improving treatment and prevention by studying classification of mental illness, based on genetics and neuroscience in addition to clinical observation. The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project is not intended to replace psychiatry’s existing diagnostic system for practitioners and will proceed in an independent direction, said Bruce Cuthbert, Ph.D., Director of the NIMH Division of Adult Translational Research, who is directing the effort. By taking a fresh look – without preconceived categories – the project aims to improve the validity of classification for researchers.

Symptoms in Mice Lacking a Single Receptor Type Mimic the Development of Schizophrenia

Science Update • December 03, 2009

Deleting one type of neurotransmitter receptor in a specific population of brain cells can induce schizophrenia-like behavior in mice, but only when the receptor is deleted early in development, according to a study by NIMH intramural scientists. The work provides strong support for previous observations implicating these receptors in psychosis; further, the mice provide a model of how psychotic symptoms can arise from a disruption in neuronal development, consistent with observations of how schizophrenia emerges in humans.

High-Tech Robots’ Efforts Bear Fruit Thanks to NIH Roadmap

Science Update • October 08, 2009

Researchers recently announced discovery of a new class of molecules that holds promise for blocking the clumps of protein that clog the brain in Alzheimer’s disease. The new findings are the latest made possible by the NIH Roadmap Molecular Libraries initiative, which employs high-tech robots and molecular genetics to speedily screen molecules for their biological effects. The discovery required testing nearly 300,000 compounds – a task thought insurmountable just a decade ago.

Atlas Will Reveal When and Where Genes Turn On in the Brain

Science Update • October 06, 2009

When and where in the brain a gene turns on holds clues to its possible role in disease. For example, a recent study found that forms of a gene associated with schizophrenia are over-expressed in the fetal brain, adding to evidence implicating this critical developmental period.

First Direct Evidence: Instability is the Normal State of the Brain’s Cortex

Science Update • September 21, 2009

Even when we’re not doing much of anything, our brain’s cortex, or outer mantle, is bustling with activity. In fact, scientists for the first time have detected “avalanches” of cortex activity in awake monkeys at rest.

Schizophrenia Linked to Over-expression of Gene in Fetal Brain

Science Update • August 28, 2009

A gene called DISC1, (for “disrupted in schizophrenia”) has been a leading contender among possible genetic causes since it was implicated in schizophrenia in a large Scottish clan two decades ago. The DISC1 gene codes for a protein important for brain development, as well as for mood and memory – functions that are disturbed in schizophrenia. However, until now there have been few clues as to how DISC1 might increase risk for the chronic mental disorder.

Major NIMH Research Project to Test Approaches to Altering the Course of Schizophrenia

Press Release • July 21, 2009

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is launching a large-scale research project to explore whether using early and aggressive treatment, individually targeted and integrating a variety of different therapeutic approaches, will reduce the symptoms and prevent the gradual deterioration of functioning that is characteristic of chronic schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Share Genetic Roots

Press Release • July 01, 2009

A trio of genome-wide studies – collectively the largest to date – has pinpointed a vast array of genetic variation that cumulatively may account for at least one third of the genetic risk for schizophrenia. One of the studies traced schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, in part, to the same chromosomal neighborhoods.

Flow of Potassium Into Cells Implicated in Schizophrenia

Press Release • May 05, 2009

A study on schizophrenia has implicated machinery that maintains the flow of potassium in cells and revealed a potential molecular target for new treatments. Expression of a previously unknown form of a key such potassium channel was found to be 2.5 fold higher than normal in the brain memory hub of people with the chronic mental illness and linked to a hotspot of genetic variation.

Gene On/Off Instructions Inherited Via Shadowy Mechanism

Science Update • April 06, 2009

The first large-scale study of its kind in twins has turned up evidence that we inherit instructions for the turning on and off of genes via mechanisms beyond the traditional sequence differences in the genetic code. Moreover, the results suggest that early random errors in replicating these instructions may trump environmental influences in shaping us.

New Silvio O. Conte Centers Address Brain Development, Disorders

Science Update • March 18, 2009

With a mandate to use innovative, multidisciplinary research approaches to address important mental health questions, four newly funded centers have begun investigations of schizophrenia, brain development, and adolescent mood disorders.

Expert Panel Addresses High Rates of Smoking in People with Psychiatric Disorders

Science Update • February 18, 2009

Numerous biological, psychological, and social factors are likely to play a role in the high rates of smoking in people with psychiatric disorders, according to the report of an expert panel convened by the National Institute of Mental Health. The report reviews current literature and identifies research needed to clarify these factors and their interactions, and to improve treatment aimed at reducing the rates of illness and mortality from smoking in this population.

Study Probes Environment-Triggered Genetic Changes in Schizophrenia

Science Update • December 24, 2008

The first study of its kind to pinpoint environment-triggered genetic changes in schizophrenia has been launched with $9.8 million in funding from NIMH. The five-site study seeks telltale marks in the genome that hold clues to how nurture interacts with nature to produce the illness.

Not All Antipsychotics Created Equal: Analysis Reveals Important Differences

Science Update • December 09, 2008

An analysis of studies on antipsychotics reveals multiple differences among the newer, second-generation antipsychotics as well as the older medications, and suggests the current classification system blurs important differences, rendering it unhelpful.

Brain's Wiring Stunted, Lopsided in Childhood Onset Schizophrenia

Science Update • October 30, 2008

Growth of the brain's long distance connections, called white matter, is stunted and lopsided in children who develop psychosis before puberty, NIMH researchers have discovered.

Certain Antipsychotic Medications May Increase Risk for Heart Disease

Science Update • October 16, 2008

Certain atypical antipsychotic medications may raise the risk for heart disease in people with schizophrenia, according to an analysis of data from the NIMH-funded Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) study.