| 1 | Neuropsychopharmacology 2010 Jun 35: 1429-39 |
|---|---|
| PMID | 20393456 |
| Title | Sensorimotor gating is associated with CHRNA3 polymorphisms in schizophrenia and healthy volunteers. |
| Abstract | Attentional gating deficits, commonly measured by prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle response (ASR), have been established as an endophenotype of schizophrenia. Prepulse inhibition is heritable and has been associated with polymorphisms in serotonin and dopamine system genes. Prepulse inhibition can be enhanced by nicotine, and therefore it has been proposed that schizophrenia patients smoke to ameliorate their early attentional deficits. The PPI-enhancing effects of nicotine in rodents are strain dependent, suggesting a genetic contribution to PPI within the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) system. Recent human genetic studies also imply that tobacco dependence is affected by polymorphisms in the alpha3/alpha5 subunits of the nAChR (CHRNA3/CHRNA5) gene cluster. We, therefore, investigated the impact of two common CHRNA3 polymorphisms (rs1051730/rs1317286) on PPI, startle reactivity, and habituation of the ASR in two independent samples of 107 healthy British volunteers and 73 schizophrenia patients hailing from Germany. In both samples, PPI was influenced by both CHRNA3 polymorphisms (combined p-value=0.0027), which were strongly linked. Moreover, CHRNA3 genotype was associated with chronicity, treatment, and negative symptoms in the schizophrenia sample. These results suggest that sensorimotor gating is influenced by variations of the CHRNA3 gene, which might also have an impact on the course and severity of schizophrenia. |
| SCZ Keywords | schizophrenia |
| 2 | Psychiatry Res 2013 Dec 210: 1290-2 |
| PMID | 24113126 |
| Title | Neurotransmitter receptor and regulatory gene expression in peripheral blood of Brazilian drug-naïve first-episode psychosis patients before and after antipsychotic treatment. |
| Abstract | Little is known about how genes expressed in blood relate to schizophrenia or antipsychotic use. We analyzed gene expression in 10 first-episode psychosis patients and nine controls using PCR Arrays. GABRR2 and CHRNA3 were found to be differentially expressed after risperidone treatment. These genes may be regulated by antipsychotic use. |
| SCZ Keywords | schizophrenia |
| 3 | Int J Epidemiol 2015 Apr 44: 566-77 |
| PMID | 26054357 |
| Title | Tobacco smoking is causally associated with antipsychotic medication use and schizophrenia, but not with antidepressant medication use or depression. |
| Abstract | Tobacco smoking is more common among patients with schizophrenia and depression than among healthy individuals. We tested the hypothesis that high tobacco smoking intensity is causally associated with antipsychotic medication use, schizophrenia, antidepressant medication use and/or depression in the general population, and compared results with those for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. We used self-reported smoking intensity in cigarettes/day and a polymorphism in the CHRNA3 gene cluster (rs1051730) associated with smoking intensity, on 63,296 20-100-year-old individuals from the Danish general population; 23,282 were never-smokers and 40,014 ever-smokers. For schizophrenia, we compared our results with those in the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. In smokers, heterozygotes (CT) and homozygotes (TT) for rs1051730 genotype had higher smoking intensity compared with non-carriers (CC). Furthermore, in ever-smokers homozygotes had increased risk of antipsychotic medication with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.16 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02-1.31] compared with non-carriers, whereas in never-smokers the corresponding OR was 1.07 (0.87-1.31) (P-interaction: 0.60). Correspondingly, ORs were 1.60 (0.74-3.47) and 1.02 (0.11-9.10) for schizophrenia (P-interaction: 0.85), 1.02 (0.93-1.13) and 0.99 (0.85-1.15) for antidepressant medication (P-interaction: 0.87), 0.85 (0.66-1.10) and 1.26 (0.87-1.83) for depression (P-interaction: 0.30) and 1.31 (1.16-1.47) and 0.89 (0.58-1.36) for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (P-interaction: 0.16). Odds ratios per rs1051730 allele for schizophrenia and antipsychotic medication use in ever-smokers in the general population were 1.22 (95% CI: 0.84-1.79) and 1.06 (1.00-1.12). In the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, the corresponding OR for schizophrenia was 1.06 (1.04-1.08) in ever- and never-smokers combined. Our data suggest that tobacco smoking could influence the development of psychotic conditions causally, whereas an influence on depression seems unlikely. |
| SCZ Keywords | schizophrenia |
| 4 | PLoS ONE 2015 -1 10: e0125116 |
| PMID | 25906356 |
| Title | Pharmacological Characterisation of Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors Expressed in Human iPSC-Derived Neurons. |
| Abstract | Neurons derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) represent a potentially valuable tool for the characterisation of neuronal receptors and ion channels. Previous studies on iPSC-derived neuronal cells have reported the functional characterisation of a variety of receptors and ion channels, including glutamate receptors, ?-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors and several voltage-gated ion channels. In the present study we have examined the expression and functional properties of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in human iPSC-derived neurons. Gene expression analysis indicated the presence of transcripts encoding several nAChR subunits, with highest levels detected for ?3-?7, ?1, ?2 and ?4 subunits (encoded by CHRNA3-CHRNA7, CHRNB1, CHRNB2 and CHRNB4 genes). In addition, similarly high transcript levels were detected for the truncated dup?7 subunit transcript, encoded by the partially duplicated gene CHRFAM7A, which has been associated with psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. The functional properties of these nAChRs have been examined by calcium fluorescence and by patch-clamp recordings. The data obtained suggest that the majority of functional nAChRs expressed in these cells have pharmacological properties typical of ?7 receptors. Large responses were induced by a selective ?7 agonist (compound B), in the presence of the ?7-selective positive allosteric modulator (PAM) PNU-120596, which were blocked by the ?7-selective antagonist methyllycaconitine (MLA). In addition, a small proportion of the neurons express nAChRs with properties typical of heteromeric (non-?7 containing) nAChR subtypes. These cells therefore represent a great tool to advance our understanding of the properties of native human nAChRs, ?7 in particular. |
| SCZ Keywords | schizophrenia |