Genetics and Health

DARPP-32 Gene Optimizes Brain Circuitry

by Hsien Hsien Lei, PhD on February 12th, 2007

DARPP-32, dopamine- and cyclic AMP-regulated phosphoprotein, is a brain “master switch” that is not only associated with improved brain function, but also increased risk of schizophrenia. Researchers from the National Institute of Mental Health found that a version of the DARPP-32 gene is found in three-fourths of study participants.

• The common version of the DARPP-32 gene is found to be more efficient at filtering information processed by the brain’s executive hub, the prefrontal cortex.
• The same version of the gene was also more prevalent among people who developed schizophrenia.
• Like many genes involved in brain function and mental illness, DARPP-32 works via dopamine, a neurotransmitter.

Dr. Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg:

We have found that DARPP-32 shapes and controls a circuit coursing between the human striatum and prefrontal cortex that affects key brain functions implicated in schizophrenia, such as motivation, working memory and reward related learning.

For a fascinating story about the link between higher intellectual capacity and schizophrenia, read more about Nobel Prize winner Dr. John Forbes Nash, whose biography was made into a movie starring Russell Crowe. Dr. Nash’s son, John Charles Martin, is also afflicted with schizophrenia and is mathematically brilliant in his own right.

NIH News, February 8, 2007

Tags: darpp-32, schizophrenia, brain, john forbes nash, beautiful mind, genetics, genes, genome, dna, diseases, illness, health

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POSTED IN: Genetics of Disease