Schizophrenia 'blast in brain' trigger

Last updated at 11:37 16 August 2004


Schizophrenia may be triggered by the equivalent of a nuclear disaster in the brain, new research has revealed.

Evidence points towards a breakdown in the mitochondria - tiny "power stations" that pump out energy in cells - being the root cause of the devastating mental disorder.

Scientists believe the damage could be linked to poor oxygen or glucose supply, and may strike people with a genetic predisposition.

They hope the finding, reported in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, will lead to new ways to diagnose, treat and prevent schizophrenia.

The illness, which produces delusions, paranoia and hallucinations, affects over 1 per cent of the population and costs the NHS more than £2.5 billion a year.

Although there have been many theories, none can fully explain how it is caused.

The new British-led study looked at tissue from more than 100 brains removed in post-mortem examinations and stored at an American research institute.

Of these, 54 were from patients with schizophrenia and 50 from well-matched healthy individuals.

Scientists screened more than 22,000 genes in the brain samples in the hope of finding clues to what lies behind the disorder.

Tests were also carried out to identify individual proteins that genes coded for.

Genes relating to metabolism and oxidative stress were altered in almost 90 per cent of schizophrenia brains, the researchers found.

Altered proteins in the brains of schizophrenia patients followed a similar pattern.

Oxidative stress is caused by the presence of groups of destructive oxygen atoms called free radicals which damage cells and DNA.

They are normally generated as waste products of metabolism - much like radioactive waste from a nuclear power plant - but in certain circumstances their levels can be boosted.

There was evidence that this may be happening in schizophrenia, as a result of altered metabolism.

The breakdown of the normal metabolic mechanism within mitochondria could be explained by a lack of oxygen or glucose, possibly due to poor blood flow.

Dr Sabine Bahn, from the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, who led the research, said: "This study is the most extensive study of its kind so far, and we believe its multi-tier, complementary approach has provided surprising and convincing data.

"We hope that our findings will lead to advances in treatment, diagnosis and hopefully prevention of schizophrenia and related illnesses."

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