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【medical-news】与心理疾病有关的基因会影响局部
Gene Linked With Mental Illness Shapes Brain Region, Researchers Find
A gene variant associated with mental illness goes hand-in-hand with enlargement of a brain region that handles negative emotions, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System have found.
The region of the brain called the pulvinar is larger and contains more nerve cells in humans who carry the gene.
"This might indicate that the brain regions that receive input from the pulvinar are more strongly influenced in such individuals, and the pulvinar communicates with brain regions involved in negative emotional issues," said Dr. Dwight German, professor of psychiatry at UT Southwestern and senior author of a study available online and in a future issue of Biological Psychiatry.
The researchers focused on a gene related to the neurotransmitter serotonin, one of the chemical messengers that nerves use to communicate with one another. Once specific nerve cells release serotonin, a molecule called the serotonin transporter (SERT) brings it back into the cell. Thus, serotonin has only a brief influence on the target neurons. Drugs that prevent this re-uptake, such as Prozac, are frequently used to treat patients with depression.
The serotonin transporter gene has two forms, or variants: short, or SERT-s, and long, SERT-l. A person can have two copies of the short gene, one copy each of the short and long, or two copies of the long gene. It is estimated that about 17 percent of the population has two copies of the SERT-s gene.
People carrying two SERT-s genes are more sensitive to emotional stimuli and more likely to experience depression than people with one or no SERT-s genes.
The researchers studied brains from 49 deceased people, with and without psychiatric illnesses. The brains were sliced thinly, the size of the pulvinar measured, the number of nerve cells counted, and the variety of each individual's SERT gene analyzed.
They found that subjects carrying two SERT-s genes had pulvinars that were 20 percent larger and contained 20 percent more nerve cells - about 1.5 million more - than subjects with either one or two SERT-l genes. Whether the person had a psychiatric disorder did not affect the size of the pulvinar.
Dr. German cautioned, however, that the entire brain is not simply larger in individuals carrying two copies of the SERT-s gene. Similar studies in other areas of the brain have found that the SERT-s gene is associated with certain areas of the brain being smaller.
"The brain is wired differently in people who have depression, and probably from the point of view of treatment, we should try to identify these people as early as possible and intervene before the 'hard-wiring' gets altered," Dr. German said. 本人已经认领此文，如在48小时内未能提交译文，其他战友可自由认领。 A gene variant associated with mental illness goes hand-in-hand with enlargement of a brain region that handles negative emotions, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System have found. UT医学中心和德克萨斯州资深医疗保健体系中心的研究人员发现，与精神疾病相关的基因多态性，它同处理消极情绪的脑部区域的放大作用密切相关。
The region of the brain called the pulvinar is larger and contains more nerve cells in humans who carry the gene. 携带该基因的人，在被称为丘脑后室的脑部区域是增大的。并且包含有更多的神经细胞。
"This might indicate that the brain regions that receive input from the pulvinar are more strongly influenced in such individuals, and the pulvinar communicates with brain regions involved in negative emotional issues," said Dr. Dwight German, professor of psychiatry at UT Southwestern and senior author of a study available online and in a future issue of Biological Psychiatry. UT西南部精神病学教授，该研究第一作者Dwight German博士说，这可能提示，对于这些个体，接受来自于丘脑后室输入信号的大脑区域受到更强烈的影响。该研究可在线阅读并将发表于精神病生物学杂志。
The researchers focused on a gene related to the neurotransmitter serotonin, one of the chemical messengers that nerves use to communicate with one another. Once specific nerve cells release serotonin, a molecule called the serotonin transporter (SERT) brings it back into the cell. Thus, serotonin has only a brief influence on the target neurons. Drugs that prevent this re-uptake, such as Prozac, are frequently used to treat patients with depression. 研究人员着重研究了编码神经递质5-羟色胺的基因，5-羟色胺是神经细胞间的化学信使。一旦神经细胞释放5-羟色胺，5-羟色胺转运蛋白会将其转运置细胞内。因此，5-羟色胺对靶细胞仅有短暂的影响，可以阻断这种在摄入的药物，如Prozac，常被用于抑郁症的治疗。
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作者:admin@医学,生命科学 2011-06-29 05:48
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