Sino-foreign cooperation research reveals the regulation mechanism of mental illness

Sino-foreign cooperation research reveals the regulation mechanism of mental illness

November 15, 2018 Source: China Science News Author: Cheng Wei Jia

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Recently, the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Emory University School of Medicine, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Innovation Institute, the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the United States St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Southeast University and other institutions, for the first time provided miR-137 Deletion of in vivo experimental evidence leading to mental illness further reveals the molecular regulatory mechanisms of miR-137-deficient psychiatric disorders. The study was published online today in Nature-Neurology.

In recent years, a number of independent genome-wide association analysis studies have found that mutations in the coding region of miR-137 gene on chromosome are closely related to the occurrence of schizophrenia, but whether miR-137 deletion affects individual mental activity, what effect, and how it affects The scientific issues waiting to be answered have not yet been broken.

The researchers constructed miR-137 systemic knockout mice and neurological specific knockout mouse models. It was found that homozygous mice with miR-137 systemic knockout or neurological specific knockout died within a few weeks after birth, and heterozygous miR-137 knockdown mice survived to adulthood. Cell level detection revealed that partial deletion of miR-137 caused phenotypic abnormalities in synaptic pruning, synaptic plasticity, and synaptic protein expression in mice.

The study also found that heterozygous miR-137 knockdown mice showed significant mental disorders such as stereotyped repetitive behavior, decreased social ability, impaired social preferences, and learning and memory deficits. The researchers further identified Pde10a, a key target gene of miR-137, by injecting mice with Pde10a-specific inhibitors or short hairpin RNA viruses, heterozygous miR-137 knockdown mice with stereotyped repetitive behavior, social ability, Learning and memory functions have been greatly improved.

These findings suggest that Pde10a inhibitors may be potential drugs for psychotic disorders of the miR-137 deletion class.