By Traci Pedersen Associate News Editor Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on August 2, 2013

A new discovery has changed the way scientists think about non-inherited schizophrenia.

Rather than individual gene mutations being responsible for schizophrenia on their own, its more likely that a gene mutation can damage an entire neural pathway, which creates a ripple effect across networks as the brain develops, according to researchers at the University of Washington.

In fact, what is now known as one disease (schizophrenia) may actually be many different diseases.

Processes critical for the brains development can be revealed by the mutations that disrupt them, saidMary-Claire King, Ph.D., a UW grantee working on the project. Mutations can lead to loss of integrity of a whole pathway, not just of a single gene.

The new research supports the current and relatively new model of schizophrenia as a neurodevelopmental disorder in which psychosis is a late, potentially preventable stage of the illness.

In the study, researchers were able to trace back spontaneous gene mutations to where and when they likely caused brain damage.

They found that some individuals might develop the precursors for schizophrenia even before birth, because their brains produced damaged neurons as a developing fetus.

Previous research had already found a connection between gene mutations and non-inherited schizophrenia that could be traced to genes involved in brain development. Until now, however, scientists knew little about how those gene mutations interact and affect pathways in the brain.

For the study, researchers chose to focus on these pathways using an online tool called the transcriptome an atlas of human brain development that shows where in the brain and when in development genes turn on.

See the rest here:
In Schizophrenia, Single Mutation May Damage Entire Brain Pathway

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