One Specific Protein Identified As The Biological Cause Of Several Childhood Psychiatric Conditions

A disruption in the SRGAP3 protein may lead to hydrocephalus, mental retardation, schizophrenia, and some forms of autism.

A new biological understanding of this protein offers a different aim for the development of treatments targeted at the biological cause of psychiatric disorders in children, and not just the symptoms, according to a study in The FASEB Journal.

When the protein known as SRGAP3, involved in brain development, is deformed. It produces problems in the brain functioning of mice that lead to symptoms of mental and neurological disorders that are similar to those in children. This protein could potentially be the missing link for several disorders.

Dusan Bartsch, Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Department of Molecular Biology at the Central Institute of Mental Health at the University of Heidelberg in Mannheim, Germany, says:

“Developmental brain disorders such as schizophrenia, hydrocephalus, mental retardation and autism are among the most devastating diseases in children and young adults. We hope that our findings will contribute to a better understanding, and in the end, to better treatments for these disorders.”

The researchers discovered these results using mice with SRGAP3 protein inactivated. Experiments were then performed, comparing these mice to normal mice. The mice with inactive SRGAP3 displayed distinct changes in their brains’ make-up, resulting in modified behavior similar to specific symptoms in human neurological and psychiatric diseases.

A presence of SRGAP3 in different brain disorders may mean these disorders are potentially connected, because SRGAP3 plays an important role in brain development. The SRGAP3 protein could be the link between different disorders because they all come from disturbed formation of the nervous system.

Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal, concludes:

“Since Freud put biological psychiatry on the map, we’ve slowly increased our understanding of how mental health is dictated by chemistry. Eventually we’ll understand the complex biology underlying most psychiatric illnesses, from genes to proteins to cell signaling to overt behaviors. Along the way, as in this report, we’re likely to find single targets close to the roots of apparently different mental illnesses.”

Written by Kelly Fitzgerald