Technology in East Midlands.
Scientists in America have made a breakthrough in the understanding of schizophrenia and how genetics may affect the condition.
Schizophrenia is estimated to affect 1% of the population. Approximately 10% of people who have the condition have genetically inherited it from a parent.
A research team from the Columbia University Medical Center in New York have analysed the genetic code of over 200 people. Not all of the samples were from people who suffered from schizophrenia. The samples where the patient had suffered from the condition were shown to have defects in a variety of genes.
The researchers discovered that there were 40 different genes which could be linked to schizophrenia. They have suggested that this may help explain the large amount of people around the world who are affected by the condition.
Researchers now believe that this study indicates that genetics play a big part in the disease, even if the condition has not been inherited from the parent. Mutations occur in DNA when eggs and sperm are made and the means that people do not have an exact copy of their parents’ DNA.
The study showed that these new mutations appear in over half of the cases of schizophrenia where the patient had no family history of the condition.
Professor Bin Xu, a researcher in the study, indicated that this study has ‘fundamentally transformed’ the understanding of the disease. He added: “It is thought that the complexity of the brain and the large number of genes involved provided a big target for mutation.