American scientists believe they have discovered a cause for the sudden onset of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) in some children: antibodies that bind to particular brain cells called interneurons.
- Pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders are a part of people with obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Children with it have high levels of antibodies that can attack specific interneurons – neurons that alter the signaling of other nearby cells
- This phenomenon is also observed in people with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome.
Pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders (PANDAS), believed to be triggered by streptococcal infections, represent an unknown portion of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) cases in young people. American researchers at Yale University have identified another explanation for these OCDs: particular brain cells called interneurons. They published their results in theAmerican Journal of Psychiatry.
A population within the population with OCD
While between 1 and 3% of children under the age of 17 are diagnosed with OCD, the proportion of cases that can be attributed to PANDAS is unknown. Some physicians believe there is not enough evidence to support PANDAS as a separate diagnosis of OCD, while others argue that it may represent a large subset of children with OCD. “It’s really obsessive compulsive disorder moresaid the study’s lead author, Christopher Pittenger, associate professor of psychiatry and researcher at the Yale Child Study Center. These children have obsessive-compulsive disorder, but they may also suffer from severe separation anxiety, subtle motor symptoms, and frequent urination. Many refuse to eat.”
The researchers decided to explore the biology of the disorder in a series of experiments involving 27 children who meet the strictest criteria for a PANDAS diagnosis. They compared them to 23 control subjects. They found that many children with a PANDAS diagnosis have high levels of antibodies that can attack specific interneurons, neurons that alter the signaling of other nearby cells. These antibodies are concentrated in the striatum, an area of the brain that is associated with voluntary motor control, among other functions, and is known to be involved in OCD. When the antibody binds to these neurons, it reduces their activity.
Future complementary research
Adults who have Tourette syndrome, a similar syndrome that is characterized by vocal and motor tics, do not have the same specific striatal interneurons,”suggesting that problems with these cells may play a role in several conditions”, advances Christopher Pittenger. The researcher, with his team, will explore this biology in other children with OCD and Tourette’s syndrome to see how antibodies binding to interneurons are prevalent in this group of related conditions.
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