The phenomenon of adult neurogenesis (AN), that is, the generation of functional neurons from neural stem cells in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, has attracted remarkable attention, especially as it was shown that this process is also active in the human brain. Based on animal studies, it has been suggested that reduced AN is implicated in the etiopathology of psychiatric disorders, and that stimulation of AN contributes to the mechanism of action of antidepressant therapies. As data from human post-mortem brain are still lacking, we investigated whether the first step of AN, that is, the level of neural stem cell proliferation (NSP; as quantified by Ki-67 immunohistochemistry), is altered in tissue from the Stanley Foundation Neuropathology Consortium comprising brain specimens from patients with bipolar affective disorder, major depression, schizophrenia as well as control subjects (n = 15 in each group). The hypothesis was that stem cell proliferation is reduced in affective disorders, and that antidepressant treatment increases NSP. Neither age, brain weight or pH, brain hemisphere investigated nor duration of storage had an effect on NSP. Only in bipolar disorder, postmortem interval was a significant intervening variable. In disease, onset of the disorder and its duration likewise did not affect NSP. Also, cumulative lifetime dose of fluphenazine was not correlated with NSP, and presence of antidepressant treatment did not result in an increase of NSP. Concerning the different diagnostic entities, reduced amounts of newly formed cells were found in schizophrenia, but not in major depression. Our findings suggest that reduced NSP may contribute to the pathogenesis of schizophrenia, whereas the rate of NSP does not seem to be critical to the etiopathology of affective disorders, nor is it modified by antidepressant drug treatment.

Nitric oxide (NO) is a gaseous neurotransmitter thought to play important roles in several behavioral domains. On a neurobiological level, NO acts as the second messenger of the Nmethyl-D-aspartate receptor and interacts with both the dopaminergic as well as the serotonergic system. Thus, NO is a promising candidate molecule in the pathogenesis of endogenous psychoses and a potential target in their treatment. Furthermore, the chromosomal locus of the gene for the NO-producing enzyme NOS-I, 12q24.2, represents a major linkage hot spot for schizophrenic and bipolar disorder. To investigate whether the gene encoding NOS-I (NOS1) conveys to the genetic risk for those diseases, five NOS1 polymorphisms as well as a NOS1 mini-haplotype, consisting of two functional polymorphisms located in the transcriptional control region of NOS1, were examined in 195 chronic schizophrenic, 72 bipolar-I patients and 286 controls. Single-marker association analysis showed that the exon 1c promoter polymorphism was linked to schizophrenia (SCZ), whereas synonymous coding region polymorphisms were not associated with disease. Long promoter alleles of the repeat polymorphism were associated with less severe psychopathology. Analysis of the mini-haplotype also revealed a significant association with SCZ. Mutational screening did not detect novel exonic polymorphisms in patients, suggesting that regulatory rather than coding variants convey the genetic risk on psychosis. Finally, promoter polymorphisms impacted on prefrontal functioning as assessed by neuropsychological testing and electrophysiological parameters elicited by a Go-Nogo paradigm in 48 patients (continuous performance test). Collectively these findings suggest that regulatory polymorphisms of NOS1 contribute to the genetic risk for SCZ, and modulate prefrontal brain functioning.

Forty years after the initial discovery of neurogenesis in the postnatal brain of the rat, convincing evidence has been accrued that functional neurons are generated throughout the entire lifespan, particularly in the dentate gyrus (DG) and the subventricular zone (SVZ). This phenomenon has been termed adult neurogenesis (AN) and while it was detected in all examined mammalian species including humans, the physiological role of this process remains unknown. Although a plethora of animal studies indicate an involvement of AN in the pathophysiology of depression, this view has recently kindled considerable controversy. Pertinent studies in humans failed to confirm a role of reduced hippocampal neural stem cell proliferation (NSP) in depression but suggest a contribution to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. The functional relevance of disturbed AN may encompass erroneous temporal encoding of new memory traces, thereby contributing to cognitive deficits observed in schizophrenia. This AN-hypothesis of schizophrenia is supported by neuroimaging, as well as by several genetically modified rodent models, e.g. reelin and NPAS3 knockout mice. Furthermore, several genes impacting on AN, including NPAS3, were also found to be associated with schizophrenia by case-control studies. In conclusion, several lines of evidence suggest that reduced AN may contribute to the etiopathogenesis of schizophrenic disorders, whereas it does not seem to be a critical risk factor for affective disorders.

Although it has been postulated that adult neurogenesis, i.e. the generation of functional neurons from progenitor cells in the mammalian brain, is involved in both the pathogenesis of depressive disorders and the therapeutic effect of antidepressant drugs, its regulation is still poorly understood. Nitric oxide, a gaseous messenger molecule, represents a possible modulating agent as it is involved in learning and memory formation as well as synapto- and morphogenesis. Here we investigated whether adult neurogenesis is altered in mice lacking endothelial nitric oxide synthase (NOS-III). Compared to wild-type littermates, NOS-III-deficient mice showed a significant reduction in neuronal progenitor cell proliferation in the dentate gyrus, suggesting a role for NOS-III in the stimulation of neuroneogenesis. NeuN, beta-III-tubulin and GFAP double-immunolabelling demonstrated that proliferating progenitor cells differentiate preferentially into neurons but not into astrocytes. However, when the survival rate of newly formed cells was examined no difference between wild-type and NOS-III knockout mice was found, suggesting that NOS-III selectively exerts its effects on the proliferation of progenitor cells. This might be mediated by a decrease in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) transcripts in the hippocampus of knockout animals. At the behavioural level, while NOS-III knockout mice displayed better and faster learning in a learned helplessness paradigm, no depression-like behaviours were observed. In conclusion, our results indicated that NOS-III is involved in the proliferation of neuronal progenitor cells, although behavioural analysis does not provide evidence for a pro-depressive effect of reduced neuroneogenesis.

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Two missense mutations (A53T and A30P) in the gene encoding the presynaptic protein α-synuclein (asyn) are associated with rare, dominantly inherited forms of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and its accumulation in Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites. As an initial step in investigating the role of asyn in the pathogenesis of PD, we have generated C57BL/6 transgenic mice overexpressing the doubly mutated human asyn under the control of three different promoters; the chicken β-actin (chβactin), the mouse tyrosine hydroxylase 9.6 kb (msTH) and the mouse prion protein (msprp). In this study we compared the regional and cellular expression pattern of the transgenic protein in the brain and peripheral organs of various transgenic mouse lines. Western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry consistently showed that all three promoters successfully drive the expression of the transgene. The msprp promoter was found to give the highest level of transgene expression. All promoters directed the expression into the brain and specific neuron types. However, the promoters differed with respect to (i) the expression pattern in peripheral organs, (ii) the number and (iii) the regional distribution of expressing cells in the brain. Furthermore, remarkable line-to-line variation of expression patterns was observed in mouse lines carrying the same construct. Future studies will analyze how the variations in transgene expression affect the pathogenesis in the animals.

The pleiotropic messenger molecule nitric oxide (NO) has been implicated in a variety of higher CNS functions, including learning, memory, and emotionality. In the human brain, NO is predominantly formed by neuronal NO synthase (NOS-I), while the so-called 'endothelial' isoform NOS-III also contributes to NO generation. We recently reported that NOS-III knockout mice display decreased adult neurogenesis and reduced responsiveness in a learned helplessness paradigm. To examine whether NOS-III plays a role in affective disorders as well, we tested a NOS-III gene haplotype, consisting of three functional polymorphisms, for an association with bipolar disorder and major depression. A significant global haplotype association with bipolar disorder (n = 284 controls; n = 91 patients; p(global) = 0.021; p(t-a-g) < 0.001), but not unipolar depression (n = 45) was detected. Our results thus suggest that the NOS-III genotype may convey a modest genetic risk to develop bipolar disorder. This finding should be further clarified by the use of within-family designs and in samples of other ethnicity.

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