查看文章

Methods: The sample investigated consists of the one year treated prevalence cohort of schizophrenic patients in contact with the South Verona Community-Based Mental Health Service (CMHS). Patients were asked to give a blood sample for DNA extraction and part of them underwent a MR scan.

Results: 37 subjects with schizophrenia were studied. Regarding the polymorphism SNP8NRG222662 (rs4623364) of NRG1, patients homozygotes for C allele had reduced left STG gray and white matter volumes in comparison to whose homozygotes for G allele (p< 0.01 a nd p< 0.001, respectively.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that NRG1 may be involved in determining STG size in schizophrenia. Potentially, this may represent the neuro-genetics basis for language disturbances, which are core features of the disease and have also been shown in high risk subjects. However, due to the small simple size, the results should be regarded cautiously and as preliminary.