>>Despite some impressive research over the past decade, schizophrenia is still an incredibly mysterious disease. Diagnosis mostly comes through behavioral observation, and there is no agreed upon objective biomarker available to detect the condition. An impressive new study from a massive collaborative team of Japanese researchers is presenting a novel hypothesis as to the cause of a subtype of the condition. Alongside that, the study suggests a biomarker in human follicles could allow future diagnoses to be made using a single hair.<<

>>To test the hypothesis Mpst is an effective biomarker for schizophrenia, the researchers took hair samples from 150 patients with schizophrenia. While Mpst levels were not consistently raised in all schizophrenic subjects, the vast majority did display enhanced levels at a rate the researchers suggest make it a potentially useful diagnostic biomarker.<<

>>Exactly how increased hydrogen sulfide levels cause schizophrenia is not clear from this study, although the researchers do hypothesize a number of mechanisms that could explain the relationship. What the new study does clearly suggest, however, is that this whole process seems to originate in a person’s early developmental phases.<<

>>So the hypothesis presented is that early stresses, either during fetal development or at very young ages, can prime the brain to overproduce hydrogen sulfide, resulting in epigenetic disruptions to the MPST gene. This excessive hydrogen sulfide production persists as one grows up, ultimately leading to what the researchers are classifying as a specific subtype of schizophrenia called “sulfide stress” induced schizophrenia.<<

https://newatlas.com/medical/schizophrenia-biomarker-hair-follicle-hypothesis-cause/

PermeateFree said:

>>Despite some impressive research over the past decade, schizophrenia is still an incredibly mysterious disease. Diagnosis mostly comes through behavioral observation, and there is no agreed upon objective biomarker available to detect the condition. An impressive new study from a massive collaborative team of Japanese researchers is presenting a novel hypothesis as to the cause of a subtype of the condition. Alongside that, the study suggests a biomarker in human follicles could allow future diagnoses to be made using a single hair.<<

>>To test the hypothesis Mpst is an effective biomarker for schizophrenia, the researchers took hair samples from 150 patients with schizophrenia. While Mpst levels were not consistently raised in all schizophrenic subjects, the vast majority did display enhanced levels at a rate the researchers suggest make it a potentially useful diagnostic biomarker.<<

>>Exactly how increased hydrogen sulfide levels cause schizophrenia is not clear from this study, although the researchers do hypothesize a number of mechanisms that could explain the relationship. What the new study does clearly suggest, however, is that this whole process seems to originate in a person’s early developmental phases.<<

>>So the hypothesis presented is that early stresses, either during fetal development or at very young ages, can prime the brain to overproduce hydrogen sulfide, resulting in epigenetic disruptions to the MPST gene. This excessive hydrogen sulfide production persists as one grows up, ultimately leading to what the researchers are classifying as a specific subtype of schizophrenia called “sulfide stress” induced schizophrenia.<<

https://newatlas.com/medical/schizophrenia-biomarker-hair-follicle-hypothesis-cause/

Interesting. A specific subtype of schizophrenia rather than the general condition. “Schizophrenia is a complex, multifactorial disease that displays heterogeneous behavioral and cognitive”. But a step in the right direction.

This work was initially a mouse study. I didn’t even know that mice could get schizophrenia. Transgenic mice? Yes. And they also looked at humans.

Looking at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31657521 “Excess hydrogen sulfide and polysulfides production underlies a schizophrenia pathophysiology” from 6 days ago, which explains the study.

“Mice with the C3H background show greater behavioral propensity for schizophrenia, including lower prepulse inhibition (PPI). We undertook proteomics analysis of the brain in these strains, and detected elevated levels of Mpst, a hydrogen sulfide (H2 S)/polysulfide-producing enzyme. Mpst-transgenic (Tg) mice showed deteriorated PPI.”

“Analysis of human samples demonstrated that the H2 S/polysulfides production system is upregulated in schizophrenia. Collectively, this study presents a novel aspect of the developmental theory for schizophrenia, unraveling a role of excess H2 S/polysulfides production.”

So H2S exposure is linked to lower neural inhibition. Interesting. Developmental aspects are still unclear, for example authors speculate that early oxidative stress may be the independent cause of both phenomena. But the diagnostic aspects for a subtype of schizophrenia are clear.

And the prospects for a whole series of ethically-immoral experiments present themselves. Such as gassing mice chronically with H2S and seeing if prepulse inhibition is reduced.