Brain Cell Transplants Reverse Psychosis in ‘Schizophrenic’ Mice

A team of neuroscientists has reversed psychosis-like features in mice, raising hope that scientists may ultimately be able to do the same for humans with schizophrenia – and potentially other kinds of psychiatric disorders.

The study, reported online in the May 2 issue of PNAS, demonstrated that a transplant of a small population of “interneurons” into the brains of affected mice normalized mental processing. About one-third of a particular type of interneurons, which help brain cells communicate with each other, are missing in these mice. Other studies in humans indicate that interneurons are also lost or are not functioning properly in patients with a variety of behavioral disorders, ranging from schizophrenia to autism spectrum.

“Loss of interneurons has a profound effect on overall brain activity. Disorders in the autism spectrum, seizure disorders, disorders such as schizophrenia and certain types of major depression that include psychosis as one of their features are believed to originate, in part, from reduced interneuron function,” says the study’s co-lead investigator, Dr. M. Elizabeth Ross, the Nathan Cummings Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience at the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute at Weill Cornell Medical College.

“What excites us is that some of the major features of schizophrenia that are displayed by these mice can be reversed in adulthood, even after onset of symptoms, by adding a small number of cells in a very defined region of the brain’s hippocampus,” Dr. Ross says, referring to a region of the brain responsible for memory and certain types of behavior. “That provides the prospect that cell therapy could bring schizophrenia, and potentially other disorders related to faulty interneurons, under much better control by restoring the neuronal balance in critical brain regions.”

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Things like this make me hopeful for the future.

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HURRAY!!!
Hopefully that will turn into something for humans soon!

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i am not being funny but how did they diagnose the mouse with sz !!
did they make a little couch and sit him next to the shrink, and then the shrink who was fluent in ’ mouse ’ said " so how long have you been hearing voices and seeing dead mice !?! "
take care

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They use what are called “mouse models” of the disease. These are mice that are bred to exhibit the traits of schizophrenia.

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