Open AccessNOS1AP in schizophrenia
Author(s) -
Linda M. Brzustowicz
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
current psycchiatry reports/current psychiatry reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.208
H-Index - 79
eISSN - 1535-1645
pISSN - 1523-3812
DOI - 10.1007/s11920-008-0027-0
Subject(s) - schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , neuroscience , genetics , gene , biology , psychology , psychiatry
NOS1AP is an attractive candidate gene for schizophrenia susceptibility. Linkage and association studies from multiple samples drawn from different populations indicate that a schizophrenia susceptibility gene is located in the region of chromosome 1 containing NOS1AP. Increased NOS1AP expression is observed in postmortem samples from individuals with schizophrenia. NOS1AP binds to neuronal nitric oxide synthase and synapsin, other candidate genes for schizophrenia, and may disrupt signal transduction through the N-methyl d-aspartate receptor complex, leading to hypofunctioning of that system. In this review, I present the evidence supporting NOS1AP as a schizophrenia susceptibility gene, with a focus on explaining the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence obtained from each type of study that has been conducted.