Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0036341 (schizophrenia)
60,220 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Abnormal expression of the N-methyl-D-Aspartate (NMDA) receptor and its interacting molecules of the postsynaptic density (PSD) are thought to be involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Frontal regions of neocortex including dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) are essential for cognitive and behavioral functions that are affected in schizophrenia. In this study, we have measured protein expression of two alternatively spliced isoforms of the NR1 subunit (NR1C2 and NR1C2') as well as expression of the NR2A-D subunits of the NMDA receptor in DLPFC and ACC in post-mortem samples from elderly schizophrenic patients and a comparison group. We found significantly increased expression of NR1C2' but not of NR1C2 in ACC, suggesting altered NMDA receptor cell membrane expression in this cortical area. We did not find significant changes in the expression of either of the NR1 isoforms in DLPFC. We did not detect changes of any of the NR2 subunits studied in either cortical area. In addition, we studied expression of the NMDA-interacting PSD molecules NF-L, SAP102, PSD-95 and PSD-93 in ACC and DLPFC at both transcriptional and translational levels. We found significant changes in the expression of NF-L in DLPFC, and PSD-95 and PSD-93 in ACC; increased transcript expression was associated with decreased protein expression, suggesting abnormal translation and/or accelerated protein degradation of these molecules in schizophrenia. Our findings suggest abnormal regional processing of the NMDA receptor and its associated PSD molecules, possibly involving transcription, translation, trafficking and protein stability in cortical areas in schizophrenia.
...
PMID:Changes in NMDA receptor subunits and interacting PSD proteins in dorsolateral prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex indicate abnormal regional expression in schizophrenia. 1670 73

Glutamate receptors of the N-methyl-D-asparate (NMDA-) subtype are tetrameric allosteric and ligand-gated calcium channels. They are modulated by a variety of endogenous ligands and ions and play a pivotal role in memory-related signal transduction due to a voltage-dependent block by magnesium, which makes them Hebbian coincidence detectors. On the structural level NMDA receptors have an enormous flexibility due to seven genes (NR1, NR2A-D and NR3A-B), alternative splicing, RNA-editing and extensive posttranslational modifications, like phosphorylation and glycosylation. NMDA receptors are thought to be responsible for excitotoxicity and subsequent downstream events like neuroinflammation and apoptosis and thus have been implicated in many important human pathologies, ranging from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's and Parkinson' disease, depression, epilepsy, trauma and stroke to schizophrenia. This fundamental significance of NMDA receptor-related excitotoxicity is discussed in the context of the developing clinical success of Memantine, but moreover set into relation to various proteomic and genetic markers of said diseases. The very complex localisational and functional regulation of NMDA receptors appears to be dependent on neuregulins and receptor tyrosine kinases in cholesterol-rich membrane domains (lipid rafts), calcium-related mitochondrial feedback-loops and subsynaptic structural elements like PSD-95 (post-synaptic density protein of 95 kD). The flexibility and multitude of interaction partners and possibilities of these highly dynamic molecular systems are discussed in terms of drug development strategies, in particular comparing high affinity and sub-type specific ligands to currently successful or promising therapies.
...
PMID:NMDA receptors are not alone: dynamic regulation of NMDA receptor structure and function by neuregulins and transient cholesterol-rich membrane domains leads to disease-specific nuances of glutamate-signalling. 1671 8

Numerous studies have described structural and functional abnormalities of the thalamus in schizophrenia, but surprisingly few studies have examined neurochemical abnormalities that accompany these pathological changes. We previously identified abnormalities of multiple molecules associated with glutamatergic neurotransmission, including changes in NMDA receptor subunit transcripts and binding sites and NMDA receptor-associated post-synaptic density (PSD) protein transcripts in the thalamus of elderly patients with schizophrenia. In the present study, we performed western blot analysis to determine whether protein levels of NMDA receptor subunits (NR1, NR2A, NR2B) and associated PSD proteins (NF-L, PSD95, SAP102) are altered in schizophrenia. Thalamic tissue from each subject was grossly dissected into two regions: a dorsomedial region containing limbic-associated dorsomedial, anterior and central medial thalamic nuclei; and a ventral thalamus region that primarily consisted of the ventral lateral nucleus. We observed increased protein expression of the NR2B NMDA receptor subunit and its associated intracellular protein, PSD95, in the dorsomedial thalamus of patients with schizophrenia, but the other molecules were unchanged, and we found no changes in the ventral thalamus. These data provide additional evidence of thalamic neurochemical abnormalities, particularly in thalamic nuclei which project to limbic regions of the brain. Further, these findings provide additional evidence of NMDA receptor alterations in schizophrenia, which may play an important role in the neurobiology of the illness.
...
PMID:Up-regulation of NMDA receptor subunit and post-synaptic density protein expression in the thalamus of elderly patients with schizophrenia. 1676 23

Disturbed glutamatergic neurotransmission has been implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, with the N-methy-D-aspartate receptors being in the focus of research. The NR1 subunit, which is encoded by the gene GRIN1, plays a key role in the functionality of N-methy-D-aspartate receptors. We tested the association between GRIN1 and bipolar disorder in a sample of German descent, consisting of 306 bipolar disorder patients and 319 population-based controls. No significant association was found. In accordance with our recent findings, we hypothesized that restricting case definition to individuals with a history of persecutory delusions might clarify the relationship between bipolar disorder and GRIN1. This stratified analysis did not yield any significant association either. Our results do not support an association of the GRIN1 gene with bipolar disorder in the German population.
...
PMID:No association between genetic variants at the GRIN1 gene and bipolar disorder in a German sample. 1696 70

The present study investigated the effects of chronic, repeated hypoxia during a postnatal vulnerable period. Acoustic startle response in adult rats was measured along with NMDA receptor binding and mRNA expression of subunits at postnatal days (PND) 11 and 120. Rats at PND 120 exhibited a deficit in prepulse inhibition of acoustic startle response. In PND 11 rats, chronic hypoxia decreased NMDA receptor binding and increased transcript expression of NR1 subunit in frontal and temporal regions, nucleus accumbens and hippocampus, while NR2A subunit expression was downregulated in hippocampal subregions. At PND 120, gene expression of NR1 was still increased in hippocampal, frontal and temporal subregions as well as nucleus accumbens. A prepulse inhibition deficit points to schizophrenia-like behavior in adult (PND 120) rats. Compensatory upregulation of NR1 expression may occur due to NMDA receptor hypofunction. We discuss this animal model to further analyze effects of hypoxia as a factor of obstetric complications in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.
...
PMID:Altered NMDA receptor expression and behavior following postnatal hypoxia: potential relevance to schizophrenia. 1705 74

Pharmacological and anatomical evidence suggests that abnormal glutamate neurotransmission may be associated with the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and mood disorders. Medial temporal lobe structural alterations have been implicated in schizophrenia and to a lesser extent in mood disorders. To comprehensively examine the ionotropic glutamate receptors in these illnesses, we used in situ hybridization to determine transcript expression of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate (AMPA), and kainate receptor subunits in the medial temporal lobe of subjects with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder (BD), or major depression (MDD). We used receptor autoradiography to assess changes in glutamate receptor binding in the same subjects. Our results indicate that there are region- and disorder-specific abnormalities in the expression of ionotropic glutamate receptor subunits in schizophrenia and mood disorders. We did not find any changes in transcript expression in the hippocampus. In the entorhinal cortex, most changes in glutamate receptor expression were associated with BD, with decreased GluR2, GluR3, and GluR6 mRNA expression. In the perirhinal cortex we detected decreased expression of GluR5 in all three diagnoses, of GluR1, GluR3, NR2B in both BD and MDD, and decreased NR1 and NR2A in BD and MDD, respectively. Receptor binding showed NMDA receptor subsites particularly affected in the hippocampus, where MK801 binding was reduced in schizophrenia and BD, and MDL105,519 and CGP39653 binding were increased in BD and MDD, respectively. In the hippocampus AMPA and kainate binding were not changed. We found no changes in the entorhinal and perirhinal cortices. These data suggest that glutamate receptor expression is altered in the medial temporal lobe in schizophrenia and the mood disorders. We propose that disturbances in glutamate-mediated synaptic transmission in the medial temporal lobe are important factors in the pathophysiology of these severe psychiatric illnesses.
...
PMID:Abnormal glutamate receptor expression in the medial temporal lobe in schizophrenia and mood disorders. 1729 17

Continuous ingestion of phencyclidine (PCP) in humans produces long-lasting schizophrenic-like cognitive dysfunction. Although a malfunction of dopaminergic and/or glutamatergic neurotransmission is implicated in the etiology of schizophrenia, involvement of the dopaminergic-glutamatergic neurotransmission in the cognitive dysfunction induced by repeated PCP treatment is minor. We demonstrated that mice treated with PCP (10 mg/kg/day s.c.) for 14 days displayed an impairment of latent learning in a water-finding task and of learning-associated phosphorylation of Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) and NR1 in the prefrontal cortex even after drug withdrawal. The infusion of a CaMKII inhibitor and NR1 antisense oligonucleotide into the prefrontal cortex produced an impairment of latent learning and decrease of learning-associated phosphorylation of CaMKII, which were observed in the PCP-treated mice. Exogenous NMDA-induced CaMKII activation was not observed in slices of the prefrontal cortex prepared from mice treated repeatedly with PCP. The potentiation of NMDA receptor function by the infusion of glycine into the prefrontal cortex ameliorated these impairments in mice treated repeatedly with PCP. The high potassium-stimulated release of dopamine from the prefrontal cortex was less extensive in the PCP-treated than saline-treated mice. The infusion of a dopamine-D1 receptor agonist into the prefrontal cortex attenuated the impairment of latent learning and decrease of learning-associated NR1 phosphorylation in the PCP-treated mice, suggesting a functional linkage between glutamatergic and dopaminergic signaling. These findings indicate that repeated PCP treatment impairs latent learning through a prefrontal cortical dysfunction of NMDA-CaMKII signaling, which is associated with dopaminergic hypofunction.
...
PMID:Involvement of a dysfunctional dopamine-D1/N-methyl-d-aspartate-NR1 and Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II pathway in the impairment of latent learning in a model of schizophrenia induced by phencyclidine. 1734 53

Cognitive deficits in schizophrenia include impairments at automatic, preattentive stages of sensory information processing. These deficits are evident in the prepulse inhibition- (PPI) and habituation of the auditory startle response paradigm, the paired tone paradigm in the EEG, and the peak recovery function of auditory evoked potentials (AEP). Administration of NMDA receptor antagonists reliably disrupts PPI and habituation of the startle, but not gating of AEPs in rodents. In the peak recovery paradigm, patients with schizophrenia and primates treated with NMDA receptor antagonists show reduced maximal response at long interstimulus intervals (ISI), but normal responses at short ISIs. Thus reduced NMDA receptor signalling may underlie alterations in these paradigms observed in schizophrenia. We tested the paradigms mentioned in mouse mutants with reduced expression of the NR1 subunit of the NMDA receptor (N = 15) and their wild-type littermates (N = 16). The NR1 mutant mice showed impaired habituation and PPI of the auditory startle response, as well as impaired gating in the paired tone paradigm. Deficits between the two gating measures did not correlate, corroborating previous evidence that these paradigms measure distinct processes. In the peak recovery paradigm, the NR1 mutants showed increased responses of the AEPs P1 and N1 at short ISIs but no difference between groups were observed at long ISIs. In conclusion, the NR1 hypomorphic mice modelled sensory and sensorimotor gating and startle habituation deficits observed in schizophrenia, but failed to model alterations in the peak recovery function.
...
PMID:Early auditory sensory processing deficits in mouse mutants with reduced NMDA receptor function. 1771 49

The melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) system is anatomically and functionally interlaced with the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system. Therefore, we investigated whether MCH(1) receptor knockout (KO) mice are more susceptible than wild-type (WT) mice to psychostimulant-induced locomotor stimulation and sensitization, dopamine receptor-mediated phosphorylation events and c-fos expression within the frontal cortex and ventral striatum. MCH(1) receptor KO mice have 20% higher basal locomotor activity, are hypersensitive to the locomotor activating effects of d-amphetamine (1 mg/kg), and develop behavioral sensitization to a regimen of repeated d-amphetamine administration that does not induce sensitization in WT mice. In addition, d-amphetamine-mediated regulation of p44-mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) phosphorylation within the frontal cortex was significantly enhanced in MCH(1) receptor KO mice, when compared with WT mice. No significant genotype difference in the effects of d-amphetamine on MAPK phosphorylation events within the ventral striatum, phosphorylation at Ser(897) of the NR1 subunit of the NMDA receptor or Ca(2+) and cyclic AMP response-element binding-protein (CREB) at Ser(133) in the frontal cortex was detected. d-Amphetamine (3 mg/kg) increased c-fos expression within the frontal cortex in MCH(1) receptor KO mice, but not WT mice. There were no d-amphetamine-induced changes in c-fos expression within the ventromedial striatum in KO or WT mice. Overall, MCH(1) receptor KO mice are hypersensitive to the behavioral and molecular effects of the dopaminergic psychostimulant d-amphetamine. Increased frontal cortical MAPK phosphorylation and c-fos expression in MCH(1) receptor KO mice indicates that the MCH(1) receptor may be an important target for treating neuropsychiatric disorders characterized by frontal cortex dysfunction, including depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and schizophrenia.
...
PMID:Behavioral and biochemical responses to d-amphetamine in MCH1 receptor knockout mice. 1800 Aug 9

The hypothesis of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor hypofunction in schizophrenia was initially based on observations that blockade of the NMDA subtype of glutamate receptor by noncompetitive antagonists, such as phencyclidine and ketamine, can lead to clinical symptoms similar to those present in schizophrenia. Recently, glutamate has also been implicated in the pathophysiology of the mood disorders. As impaired NMDA receptor activity may be the result of a primary defect in the NMDA receptors themselves, or secondary to dysfunction in the protein complexes that mediate their signaling, we measured expression of both NMDA subunits and associated postsynaptic density (PSD) proteins (PSD95, neurofilament-light (NF-L), and SAP102) transcripts in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in subjects with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, and a comparison group using tissue from the Stanley Foundation Neuropathology Consortium. We found decreased NR1 expression in all three illnesses, decreased NR2A in schizophrenia and major depression, and decreased NR2C in schizophrenia. We found no changes of NR2B or NR2D. Receptor autoradiography revealed no alterations in receptor binding in any of the illnesses, indicating no change in total receptor number, but taken with the subunit data suggests abnormal receptor stoichiometry. In the same subjects, PSD95 was unchanged in all three illnesses, while reduced NF-L expression was found in schizophrenia, especially in large cells of layer V. SAP102 expression was reduced in bipolar disorder restricted to small cells of layer II and large cells of layer III in bipolar disorder. These alterations likely reflect altered signaling cascades associated with glutamate-mediated neurotransmission within specific cortical circuits in these psychiatric illnesses.
...
PMID:Lamina-specific abnormalities of NMDA receptor-associated postsynaptic protein transcripts in the prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. 1803 38


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>