A new scientific study has just shed light on the region of the brain that would be affected duringonset of schizophrenia.
This work was carried out by American researchers and published on February 10 in the journal Nature Communications. According to them, a loss of function” and even a mutation » of the SAP97 protein seemed hitherto implicated in the origin of this pathology. They therefore looked into its exact role, in particular in a well-defined part of the brain, called the dentate gyrus.
For the very first time, the activity of the SAP97 protein in the dentate gyrus has thus been linked to the development of schizophrenia. In order to reach these conclusions, the scientists studied several anomalies of this protein in rodents.
These showed an increase in glutamate level, an amino acid naturally present in the human body. As the study explains, glutamate is a neurotransmitter: it therefore ensures the proper circulation of messages between the different neurons. An anomaly of the SAP97 protein therefore leads to a dysfunction of glutamate: this can thus disrupt the ” processing of contextual episodic memory » in rats.
Similar memory problems have been observed in patients with schizophrenia. Scientists therefore conclude that a dentate gyrus dysfunction » might lead to the development of this pathology. Their work is the first to clearly identify the brain region in which the SAP97 protein acts, and can thus cause theonset of schizophrenia.
