Caveolin-1 Regulates Gene Associated with Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a debilitating psychiatric disorder that manifests in early adulthood. Disrupted-in-schizophrenia-1 (DISC1), a susceptible gene for schizophrenia implicated in neuronal development, brain maturation, and neuroplasticity, is a promising candidate gene for schizophrenia, but the molecular mechanisms underlying its role in the pathogenesis of the disease are still poorly understood. In this podcast, Editor-in-Chief Bill Yates (University of Pittsburgh) and Associate Editor Sean Stocker (University of Pittsburgh) talk with author Brian Head (VA San Diego and University of California, San Diego) about the role of caveolin-1, a cholesterol binding and scaffolding protein that regulates neuronal signal transduction and promotes neuroplasticity, in mediating DISC1 expression in neurons in vitro and the hippocampus in vivo. Could this work lead to new treatments for schizophrenia? Listen and find out.

Caveolin-1 regulation of disrupted-in-schizophrenia-1 as a potential therapeutic target for schizophrenia
Adam Kassan, Junji Egawa, Zheng Zhang, Angels Almenar-Queralt, Quynh My Nguyen, Yasaman Lajevardi, Kaitlyn Kim, Edmund Posadas, Dilip V. Jeste, David M. Roth, Piyush M. Patel, Hemal H. Patel, Brian P. Head
Journal of Neurophysiology, published online November 2, 2016. DOI: 10.1152/jn.00481.2016 .