Schizophrenia is a psychiatric illness characterized by a set of very variable symptoms: some very impressive such as delusions and hallucinations, but also cognitive difficulties. About 600,000 people would be affected in France, with a prognosis that varies according to the characteristics of the disease and the precocity of treatment.
Researchers have already identified the genetic and environmental origins (cannabis and stress in the first place) of the disease. But in a study on rats, researchers from the University of Southern California (UCLA) discovered the area of the brain involved in the disease.
By focusing on a specific protein associated with schizophrenia (the SAP97 protein) and trying to pinpoint its location in the brain, they were able to determine which area of the brain is causing schizophrenia. This location is the dentate gyrus, a part of the hippocampus that controls contextual episodic memory, or conscious recall of life experiences. This discovery could open the way to a better understanding of the disease and, subsequently, to the establishment of better treatments.
Source : Schizophrenia-associated SAP97 mutations increase glutamatergic synapse strength in the dentate gyrus and odd contextual episodic memory in ratsNature communications, February 2022
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